


Fallen Above And Below

by NebulaViburnum



Category: Ai no Kusabi
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:08:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 103,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NebulaViburnum/pseuds/NebulaViburnum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to Jupiter being killed and Amoi being relocated as a port planet for Earth and its federation planets the systems have changed to more democratic situations. Katze has become mayor of both Eos and Midas now combined to form Autolycus. Though pet auctioning and pet assemblies still occur it seems pet-harvesting is done within limits now.  In this new world Riki has come back from Earth for a short visit and invited by Katze and a convalescing Kirie to spend time at the mayorial palace. Tanagura has now become a ghost town and is being restructured as palaces for new ministers. What has happened to the Blondies? Riki realizes when he sees Iason Mink as a pet to a former academy occupant named Heracles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

**♦♦||Fallen Above and Below||♦♦**

**♦♦||Chapter One||♦♦**

  
**♦♦||Circuits and Calling Cards||♦♦**   
_♦♦||An exploration on why Blondies are a good source of vengeance & Riki meets Iason after seven years||♦♦_

* * *

 

 

When I saw the cloaked figure I somehow knew. 

 

Amongst all the cold and warmth surrounding the airport here was one person who remained kind of indifferent. I felt scared to approach him. At first. I felt that he was angry towards me. Maybe, justly so. But i had been so ashamed and I did not know how to express what had happened to me all those years ago. I had tried to forget and I have. But at times I wake up crying in the middle of the night and I feel yeah I survived but like all wounds I do have some scars a bit hurting at times. However, some moments of PTSD are gone. 

I do not talk to Guy anymore. That was a tragedy. I should have but I don't rather we have an unspoken agreement not too. And I think Guy came out alive just to spite me. I was angry with him that he had tried to castrate me but to Guy that was the only way to sever me from Blondie and Blondie felt it too. I found it laughable but I found both Guy and Blondie to be pretty much alike. That is why I could understand them a bit. Guy may be very kind but he is as irrational and aggressive as Iason Mink. Yeah, I prefer calling him Blondie. After the fall of mother Jupiter who was the Blondies' keeper the names of the Blondies were too known to be safe to use. I did not want to be caught in the media frenzy of who was who and technically speaking that time seven years ago I was written off dead and I preferred to keep it that way. Riki the Dark, the coerced pet and slave of a Blondie had died in Dana Bahn shelter collapse. Which lead to Iason Mink being severely wounded but alive and soon back in action only to have been surprised by a planned revolt where I heard Kirie was involved. Soon, Tanagura, the Blondies were captured and even Jupiter was killed in one big swoosh and everyone was soon released apparently from a bondage that had fostered by a stupid AI who like the Blondies could only think limitedly. I don't know how much had changed but Katze had listened to my request and I went to Earth. Funny thing was I loved Earth alot, the _terra originale_ as I like to call it. Earth was a masterpiece of both utopian aspects and great suffering. It was such a contadiction but so lovely to me because of its both un-unifiable and unifiable paradoxes and ironies that I just stayed. Stayed there for like seven years. I wouldn't have come back if Kirie and Katze did not invite me. Guy is well, something I have to understand; he has become a great problem to me. When I had told him I liked what Iason did I was partly lying and partly guessing. I had never liked what Iason made me do. But when I came I just felt relieved because part of the torture of that time was over. And even if I didn't come there was relief and pleasure in just surviving. It was true Iason never physically abused me, not directly, but he made Daryl suck me and spank me at times, he even spanked me too and then he tried to keep me under control and that was abuse enough. 

I never did understand why Iason desired me so badly. I had spit on his perfect record of baddie number one but even after we fucked, correction, he forced me to fuck and all that. I still could not understand what else could he want really?

I mean I only spited him from time to time after a while and I did not understand why we did fuck when Blondies not supposed to fuck pets. At first I thought it was just for abuse and maybe at first it was but Iason was never happy with me, or us. At nights I thought he looked scared and nervous. Once at our moon doubled moment, happens in like once in four months, when both Amoi's moons are full at the same time partly overlapping course, he looked at the moons and dropped his cup and I shuddered but didn't rise. After a while Iason picked up a glass piece and pressed it slowly on his fingers and began to bleed and I found that he looked hurt. But then slammed the wall softly and threw the piece out the high rise Tanagura window and I just looked thinking what the fuck his problem was.

Oh well, I approached the cloaked figure, "Why are you hiding yourself?" 

"I hate most people and I hate showing my face."   
"What's wrong with your face?"

He showed me. There was a long gash on his left side. "Don't ask at the moment." 

I felt sad. This quiet Kirie was nothing like the happy person I knew always so excited. And he was intelligent. Now he hated crowds and talking. I noticed he had a look of disgust on his face concerning both foreigners _and_ natives on the airport and I did not know how to reassure myself this was the same Kirie, "Hey, in Midas, I mean, I keep on forgetting what's it called now but. There is going to be a pet auction want to come?" 

I did not know but I smiled. Because Kirie smiled. And I saw slice of the Kirie that I knew and in an odd way respected it so I nodded. 

There were many questions but I asked none.

* * *

 

Obviously, I had slept in the beautiful linen beds of a time yore and yolking of a prospect of a future promise. My body ached at this familar richness not pleasurable fully but not too hated either. I smelled Blondie on the sheets. Faint but ripe both by mind and physical space and I knew this was once a Blondie's bed. The mansion was new and shone rich. Like a crystal edifice (like Dostovosky stated in the Underground man, yeah I read in Earth). Slept for three hours until Kirie knocked me awake.

Well, my door I mean. "If you are tired please sleep. I'll come —"

" No Kirie I will go with you." I smiled, "I want to see an auction. I don't know what it;'s like so..."

"Not that different." Kirie smiled fully but then softly sad, "All those odd guys and perverts readying in to reap a few bodies. Pet rules have changed though alot." 

"Like?" I cocked my head and held his hand lovingly.

"When we go there, we can see and I will tell you more." Kirie slowly hugged me. And I hugged him back.

We kept like that for like five minutes. 

* * *

 

"Is he not a furniture?"  
"Well furnituring is outlawed now and well...previous furnitures can be pets if they want."

"Wow, a furniture." He looked a lot like Daryl, and I smiled, he suddenly looked at me and smiled too then smiled brightly at Kirie, "So,  what are you doing here Kirie?"

"Shopping of course."  

His face was blank and stern and well so indifferent. I could have sworn he was a Blondie in training. "Ok...Oh Ok..." I was a bit dumbfounded.  Kirie buying a pet. The world changes faster than you realize.

"You once said that the divide with the rich and poor are great. You were right.  But now I am rich and these people are poor. I guess this cycle doesn't change so easily huh?" 

I didn't know how to answer that so I just gave a a soft shrug with an earnest smile. And Kirie nodded his head in acceptance of it. Kirie and I hadn't properly talked yet. During most of our car journey I had passed Ceres which was in shambles but not our shambles but destroyed shambles and technically I was too  tired and nervous to ask questions. It may have been seven years but reconstruction of Amoi was stil going under way. This pet auction itself was not a grandscale thing as before but rather a small party of sorts like where only some people have gathered and I did not know what to make of it. It was the same thing but not the same thing. Like meeting a stranger you know. The ambience was less neonated garsihly and the costs were relatively reduced. But the customers looked eager as usual. 

Thats when I saw Einif comes by me. I didn't almost recognize him as before. But he brushed against me and I saw the same eyes and hair. No longer the cocky youthful pet nor the aged harassed man in the transport place. He looked good; he was handsome still with his hair lustrous and well, well long locked. Unlike the greasiness I saw before it shone and was now in its proper ringlets and it looked longer. Oh, yeah it was long. Very long. Like a Blondie's and he wore clothes that I think resembled a bit of a new stylized tudor sized ensemble. There were two layers of long extensions, one his shirt, the other attached to his pants and well he wore beautiful black shoes and those shirt arms were purple and puffy at the shoulders and narrow at the arms, the collar a spotted affair of black and white. The pants purple and so was the shirt arms. I guess he no longer dresses in skimp. Who would truly I had wondered. But his pants were more slacks like and they hugged his beautiful legs; I always thought he did have beautiful legs. 

"Sorry Einif." I muttered out quietly for the brush in.

At the sound out of his name he looked at me, "Riki, Riki?" The look was astonisment, "You are not dead." 

"Not really." I said quietly and ushered him to do the same.

That is when he kissed me softly. "Oh dear Riki." touching my face, "You look so well." He was being very tender, "Why are you here?"

"At the auction. I guess it is also a former pets' party." I slowly laughed but he looked sincerely upset.

"I am becoming of this place but not you." He looked worried, "I hope you are not going to buy anyone are you?"

"Why not?" Kirie rushed in, "If Riki wants he can buy all the slaves here. I'd buy them for him as a coming back present." Kirie smiled his grinning smile.

"Don't be ridiculous." I was not really impressed, "I am only here 'cause you are."

"I am going to buy a Seraphim pair. Both same sex and opposite sex." Einif looked determined, "I am going to buy them and live with them. They will help me visualize a mortal angelic picture and my gardens will look nice with them. Us Ministers will have to keep up living a bit luxuriously don't you think Minister Kirie." 

"Minister." So, that is what Kirie has garduated to? Great. He has a lot of importance now. He always did. But I was proud that he got so high up. I guess by being a revolutionary you can do a lot. 

But Kirie snorted, "I don't care if I am Minister. I only got the position now and Katze had also helped a bit. Seven years in the odds and ends and finally I get somewhere. People and politics like the damned and the devil if you ask me." 

"But those seven years were not so bad for you." Einif recounted, "You lived in good wealth, good company and had met a lot of laddies and ladies who adored you. You lived happily." Einif then glared, "But I was an ex-pet thus I was kept in the slums for a while before it capsized and well there was also the Civil War, the Tanaguran Rift as it is called, between Blondies and the slum people.  I guess the normal humans won how funny. I guess God designed the normal humans to be more creative and versatile than the pampered Blondies. Well, I became a Minister, well something akin to it I guess during the non elective years."

"The Civil War was not broadcasted much at Earth." I contributed, "I guess many of Earth's power houses were seeing who'd win and transport of guns and weaponry were done dubiously to both sides. So ironically it was a war with some equality in the fix. But the so called powerful had fallen and then Earth and some of its allies just took over Amoi. I think they would have earlier if Jupiter hadn't kept them happy enough."

"How funny that Jupiter was never fully free huh. That thing, I guess a she, was more controlled than us slum people and even pets." Kirie looked at me and Einif. 

"I guess you are not really on top if you have to act like a dog in heat." I answered, "Jupiter was an AI and truly had only a rudimetary sense of pride and ego. It mostly ran of logic and power acquisition and that makes you do stupid things in my books. I guess she wanted the Blondies to help engender qualities she had less of in herself to herself  like you know capsule shots. But I guess thats she or is it or he is a rather sorry creature. Hey, do you guys know who killed her?" 

"Actually, it is still a mystery and no one wants to solve it because it really doesn't matter to anyone." Einif laughed.

"Look there come the last existing batch of seraphims around here, you should hurry." Kirie said with a smirk.

"Riki, Kirie please come over my house and bring Katze along. Call, and we will arrange a date." Einif touched and squeezed my hand, "I am so happy to see you Riki." Then there was a long kiss, "I know our squables were petty and influenced only by our class status and chains so I do not care for them. I care only for your company and your friendship." 

"That guy likes you and many more people." Kirie uttered with a glass of some juice in his hands, "You know they all consider you a revolutionary too as in understanding the stupidness of that older order where Blondies ruled." 

"Yeah, but I haven't _done_ anything." I took my orange juice in a gulp, "I just fucked with a Blondie." 

"Yeah but you can't erase strength it's not possible if it's _true_ and maybe you fought no war but you are still Riki like I am Kirie and many others especially Katze."

"What about Guy?:"

"Yeah him too."

"But we are not really involved in this."

"Neither are you not."

"True, I guess everybody is involved in these kind of things. I am not the only person who understood something was wrong. Daryl is one of the first matyrs of your cause but no one knows him."

"No they do. But at times modern history is cruel they like naming only a few names like I fought hard but I was not recognized till much later. The babes and the ballistic fun was all also just you know time being things. After a while many true soldiers are forgotten or even ignored so that greed and corruption and monopolies can rule. They want to bring democracy here because Earth is democratic or at least attempts to show that and well it won't work you know because democracry is a pebble stone you know in a bright circle of fire it looks nice but it's been preheated and when you touch it it's well hot and brands you into an object not the other way around." 

"Well, I'm glad you know what you are dealing with here." I said quietly, then added more quietly, "Not like last time."

"I'm afraid I have been fucked by drugs too much to be able to not know you know..." Kirie smiled a bit and laughed a bit. "I don't think it can ever be like last time though. Ever. Because well I am not really the same anymore. This place has ruined the me you knew so long ago." And this was said with a stronger faint of a smile; not entirely tight lipped, just strongly loose and I saw such sadness that I realized that Kirie's fate for  a time had been worser than mine. I had known that Iason meant trouble but Kirie ddn't and then Katze followed orders but they both got rid of Kirie when he got over eager. In the worst possible way. Because Kirie looked different and had heterochromatic eyes he was not really a _slum personality._ So, he could be a pet. And for that Iason has to answer gravely. It wan't fair and I didn't know what he got out of it. But it was wrong; severely wrong. 

"Well, that's not true." I said finally, "The Kirie I know won't let drugs or other stupid things get in the way of him." I winked.

Kirie just looked with a sadly blank face. He wasn't sure of my words but he knew that I was there for him. 

"I am going to buy that ex-furniture who smiled at us." The one who looked like Daryl? Wow, Kirie must have seen that I looked at him nostalgically, "Do you know him?"

"No, but you can you buy him if you want." I replied, then elaborated, "When I was a pet I had a furniture man named Daryl who looked after me look a lot like him." 

"Well, you do know what happened to him?"  the only reason of killing him was him helping uyou" Kirie asked. "I think it too minor. He was skilled like Katze he could have been employed."

"Blondies usually are primitive in how they do things." Despite their sophistication I felt the elites were primitive and quite dull in their methods of doing things. I never asked anything because I had a feeling no one could answer me. So, I never said it but this whole society to me felt really non-logical and silly. The fact they were sterile was very sad too. And they accepted it. Pets like Mimea never accepted things and that's why I love her. She reminded me of me. 

"Yeah true. I think we were all fooled."

"But deception can be cruel in its many forms." Suddenly I thought of snakes and Cerberus and said, "Why do you wish to buy pets?"

"I don't know. I want people to talk to and I want to have them around." 

"Why not get Bison?"

Kirie looked shocked that I asked, "Were you avoiding that till now?"

"Yes, because of what happened between me and Guy so I planned to avoid everyone not that I wouldn't eventually talk but I had no idea how to go about it." I scratched my head, "I mean I.., well —"

"Bison has been disbanded."

"Finally gone huh." I sighed.

"I said disbanded not gone." Kirie smiled, "We have a server for ourselves but we don't really do those things anymore. Especally with me being with Katze all the time." 

"Ok..." Then, I had to press on it, "Is Guy —"

"No." But Kirie seemed angry, "Guy has forgotten where he has come from. Unlike you who has suffered a lot more than him and well he is nothing but a traitor." 

"I told him I liked being a pet I think that ruined everything for him."

Kirie narrowed his eyes: "Did you _really_?"

I knew this answer, "No, I didn't but when it was pleasurable it got confusing." 

"You can face euphoria even before you die." Kirie folded his arms, "Like a climax of our sex we want to focus on that good not the bad besides you were under loads of pressure." 

"I was." 

That was the starting of the rift between Guy and me. I didn't want Iason much. But I had fallen out of love with Guy. Not because of Iason but because I knew that I don't full and truly love Guy and it hurt. Because I couldn't tell Guy what happened. And Guy wasn't even that focused in knowing what happened to me. Maybe Katze had lied and said I was now a citizen of Midas and graduated from being slum person to a person who could hold his own. And Guy had been happy for me I guess but...is it just alright to leave it like that?! It was not fair to just sit around and never be curious to know or maybe get angry with me and never try to ask! And when I saw him again I became kinda upset. Happy. For the first three months I lived without sex until I made love. It was such a long time since I made love that I started crying. But I didn't want it with Guy. I wanted it with Mimea or even Daryl anyone who could understand my tears and wouldn't immediately mistake them for just reunion happiness. But Guy asked no questions later and I was doomed to cry by myself. I was getting angrier day by day by Kirie's enthusiasm too. 

One thing Iason was wrong about. I didn't become a stranger in Ceres. I always was one. But now it gravely showed. I mean after he had released me because, well the fire in my veins cooled but boiled too and well it was hard to understand, and the others tried to keep up the charade of "everything was alright" for very long. No one outwardly asked me intently what had happened. I know they felt their ex-leader would tell them what had happened but how could I? It was both shameful but also unheard of. And well no one really tried to know much. They get used to being limited. Ironically, so did the Blondies; it was mostly pets and furnitures who broke laws that were unpredictable. 

"But yes, " Kirie interrupted my interlude (not to say I was fond of it much anyway), "I did wrong helping Bison get caught and get Guy get caught. I deserved my fate in a way." 

"I thought I thought that too but..." I added, "You were young and aspiring Kirie and they did tease you alot and I think you were tired being considered a young pup amongst us dogs. You wanted to show us what you were made of."

"Actually, I wanted to show you." Kirie spoke as though there was no ancient relic, it still remained, "Everybody adored you. They said how dare he fight with Riki. You were like a legendary hero and I was a novice. But I did not understand it. I could not. I was confused and angry." 

 _Something both you and Iason and even Guy share,_ I thought sadly, _You guys get confused and angry and loose thinking straight._

"Really angry actually. It was not fair that you were a legendary hero they hardly spoke about but now cared so much about."

"You are right that is gravely unfairly." _Hardly spoke about, you fuckers should have a good reason for that._

"It was clear that they loved you a lot and cared about you but I just...didn't know about you and to me you were stranger than a stranger, you were an intruder." Kirie looked at a smiling girl, many of the pets were dressed in skimpy wear but many also chose to be beautifully, elegantly dressed, this one was one of them, she wore lavender gown adorned with a beautiful gold set, Kirie looked fondly and her slightly light brown-blonde hair which resembled his only two tones lighter, "It made me sad but I was not a talker then. So, I thought I would go about destroying you guys because to my immature self you destroyed what intimacy I had with them."

"In a way Kirie I did." I took full responsibility, "I pranced in there after three years and resumed de facto leadership and I was rude and mean to you and they by habit and friendship applauded my uncivilised and cuthrouat manner with you so I am very sorry Kirie. But know this I do plan to stand by you now and help you in any way I can." 

"Please, be my advisor, even unofficially," Kirie rubbed his hands, "I have beem made minister but I know I don't want to mess up. I want someone with an able mind and a trusting friend to help me conduct myself properly. This might all be a ruse but let's see if I can do anything right."

"Sure." I nodded, Kirie was a good person and I believed he would have made a fine leader for Bison, better than Guy, if the chance had been given. Maybe, he can still be. Bison can survive as a memento if needed and I wouldmn't mind calling him Kirie the dark.

I shouldn't have looked at the other side of the lavender woman, but I did, _Iason_!

No, Not Iason but a Blondie. Lipstick was smeared and he looked very emaciated and somewhat a bit effeminate. Suddenly a caretaker of sorts got inside and punched him and pulled his hair; he actually started crying but he got slapped. The clothes on his back was a red tank top and he wore dirty white panties like a thong. He with shame twirled around and showed his ass to the public who booed and cheered all the same. The caretaker then slapped his ass, grabbed him harshly by his abdomen, bent him and started spanking him. The former elite started crying his ass was redder now and he clenched shut his teary eyes. 

"So, he is a premium class huh? Look how he has fallen." Kirie smiled a bit sadistically but then turned quietly, "Some Blondies are being sold very high bucks. Many can't afford but I can but I don't want that lot of a disease near me. After the civil war the Blondies were slaves some died from over labour while othere were pleasure slaves and some stood up longer, probably this one too, but most got this end."

"Buy him."

"What?"

"I said buy him, please." I was very disturbed, "He looks hungry and unclean and really embarrassed we both know how that feels."

"And we both know it's his kind that made us feel that." Kirie looked furious.

"Yes, but let's help this one." I nodded understandably, "He is a Blondie so maybe he can talk a lot with us? Maybe?"

"Ok, but if I feel fishy he can go and dive in a deep end." Kirie went and talked with the caretaker and I just sighed.

How ironic, a Blondie our pet.

* * *

 

"Are there any pet parties?" I asked with no knowledge of the new system, "I mean I don't know."

We were heading towards our car and transport for our new pets. We had with us the person who looked like Daryl, the lavender woman, twins unidentical, a seraphim pair and the almost nude Blondie, who dragged at the back and looked at the ground. He hugged himself.

"Yeah but they they are rarer now. Pet parties is usually for voyeurs and well many people are not voyeurs or can't afford or if there is a party it's amonst smaller groups and happy people. Slavery is almost over in that way. Many of the ex-pets and furnitures are getting busy getting other jobs or migrating. Who would willingly choose to be a pleasure slave if other opportunities and avenues are presented that can be both sexy and kinky but also respectable." 

I nodded then stopped. The pets stopped too. Curious.

"Hey I am Riki." I smiled, "What's yoour names?" Kirie looked on and smiled too.

The serpahim pair came forward, "I am Ashe, the girl said and he is Ashera. We are not siblings but we were first supposed to be shipped as kinda incestuos group so I guess we named that way." 

The unidentical twins came forward, "We are siblings." They radiated, "Are you Riki the dark?"

Everyone, including the Blondie, got alert, "What makes you say that?" I laughed.

"We think many of the people we heard about like Guy and Riki are alive so we tried to know a lot about them." They said almost unanimously; "I am Kira, he is Kakash." the sister finished.

"Well, I don't know the dark part of whatever but I am just Riki." I think some of these people weren't aware I was in Bison.

"I am Olivier." The ex-furniture came forward, "I wouldn't mind getting to know you better beautiful." The wink he gave me was very hot, "You are so cute and muscular and strong type ohhh the beauty of it. I never thought individuals from Ceres could have such pretty features." Wow, a furniture with an outspoken attitude, very uncommon.

"I am Ithos." The elegant lavender woman came forward, "I used to be the top pet for a Blondie named Rube Geneflare but he was captured and beaten badly early on." She looked at our Blondie, of all the pets he was worse dressed and he shivered due to his exposure, God, he looked worse than the hobos in the slums in the Ceres I used to know, "But after that I did some odd jobs. I thought selling myself as a pet may provide some opportunities for me. I am a good worker besides sex and I can learn pretty quick."

"Ithos, I have decided to make you the lady of my house."

Everyone looked shocked even our Blondie cringed in a  sort of nervousness and fear, I swallowed in atonshment, "You look like me a bit and I would love to have a sister I can look up to and protect, please will you allow me the honour?" 

Ithos started crying, "Yes. Oh yes Please sir Kirie..."

"No, I am just Kirie to you now, you are legally going to be my older sister and we will do this together." Kirie laughed as we moved along.

People started whispering but Olivier came forward and congratulated Ithos on her new found place, "You deserve it my lady Ithos even as a former pet you had such an sophisticated air I hated seeing you do those lewd parties at times. But you are intelligent and caring so I had a feeling you would fare better than most others."

"Well, let's see." Ithos smiled, "I must uphold a family line now more wonderful than a pet's husk and more responsible too." 

I went up to the Blondie "And you are?"

"I remember you, you are Riki. I don't know about Dark but Riki you are." Blondie looked up, "You seem to be doing well." a smile gentle.

I took off my coat, it was long,  "Here, I think this will fit you as you are a bit smaller shaped." 

"I prefer the term lethe but I have been starved." With a small hand out he takes it and wears might magenta coat (I was wearing one which complimented my reds and black outfit), "Thank you so much."

"You looked like you could use it." I just nodded, "I will buy you more stuff but I think you are hungry and need to eat first."

"Thank you, for treating my shame as your own; though I never did you that curtesy I am amazed at how a supposed mongrel cares more for me than my own creed and even the citizens I once was nice too." 

I did not know how to answer that.

"I am Velvay."

* * *

 

In the car  Ithos now Lady of the house sat in the limosine. There was a smaller van where the new pets sat. Everyone was avoiding Velvay. Ashe and Ashera were giving him glares. The twins blew rasberries at him then sat ignoring he existed. Despite being a former furniture Olivier pushed Velve out of the way to have a window seat on the second row. Giving the look that you are one of us now.

Velvay shivered I think he was frightened at this overt animosity. I held his hand, "you can ride with me."

"No, I;ll stay at the back." Velve knew he was among a rock and a hard place.

"Well, I will ride with you." I went up and talked to Kirie about this.

"Yeah, good idea, those seraphim twins looked like they gonna beat the crap out of him."

"He had slapped Ashera in a pet party once. He had not owned him but the other Blondie who did gave him the chance to abuse him so he slapped his bum and made him feel bad from what I saw. Then he made someone fuck Ashe in front of him roughly so Ashe, who loves Ashera as a brother and lover, was furious. And Ashera felt rage like no other." Ithos informed, "Those seraphim pair will beat him or torture him now that they got the chance." 

I know what Velvvay did was wrong but as streetfighter I believed in equivalent opportunities. If they fight. They will fight fairly. Velve was still wearing purplish-blue lipstick. 

When I was back with him and seated with him at the far back of the small transport van I asked, "Lipstick?"

"Uh, well." A smile, "I always wore it as a trait to distingusih me from the others." Then a bit sad, "My lipstick colour is a bit gaudy and unfine it had a better sheen but now it is well you know cheaper material. The people who kept me in the Midas police administration were laughing at my lipstick mouth but for some reason they did let me keep on wearing it due to well...it being different."

"Let's go to  a cosmetic store later." I held his hand, "We might bring out colours you like. You can wear more than one shade."

"I suppose." Velvay removed his hand and touched it, he looked sad, "You are so warm. Like a fever of life going through you. I so envy this great, unaltered body of ours. It seems to be wiser than mine." 

* * *

 

'I asked Ithos to choose a  room to her liking." 

"That was quite nice."

"We look like each other I want a non-sexual base of family. I bet a former pet may prefer being a trusted family member and noble rather than a pet. As she said, this is a better opportunity."

"Yeah it is. Just be careful. We don;'t know anything about her."

"Yeah, if she does anything wrong I'll make sure that I respond in a wrong way too." 

"I am not saying be violent it's just kinda quick decision. I don't also think Olivier should well, be completely trusted. I think you know everyone is in like on trial basis in these roles." 

"Yeah." Then he looked at me, "What about you? Were you a trial pet?"

I cringed, "No. That was the problem. I was not supposed to be near this kind of crap." 

"Why did Katze help I wonder." Kirie clenched his fists.

"Not that he wanted to. The guy felt he had no other choice. A former furniture who hacked Jupiter and was kept around for an efficacy that was perilous."

"I am surprised Jupiter didn't try to kill him."

"Actually I think she was. But Iason didn't know that. Jupiter wanted me to die too. The Blondies trusted a monarch who only truly cared about herself."

"Well, you can't expect much from a rogue AI. One who went mad with greed and power."

"And deauchery."

"Debauchery?"

"What sadomasochistic sick mind wiuld not revel in a society of pet rings, shackles and obscene dispalys of sex. Face it that Jupiter was a perverse, sick creature. Putting her down was putting down a rabid mionster who would eat her young just or fun."

Kirie softened.

* * *

 

"May...I...stay?"

In the soft moonlight I almost thought I saw Iason I rushed towards him because I thought Iason was injured and like always I guess I help a bit first before asking questions later.

But it was Velvay.

Shivering he continued, "My room is nice and pleasant but I saw where yours were —"

"How?"

"I studied most of your moves and presumed it was here through trial and error." 

"Well remind me to remind Kirie to lock his door." Then I guffawed a bit, "Mental note: must lock door too."

I walked ahead and signaled him with a hand to come over; he was so happy he _almost_ pranced. Correction: did _prance_.

We held each other on the bed.

Velvay and I were shirtless and he slowly touched me. I grabbed his hand, "I, uh, was curious but your skin has this lovely glow in the dark."

"Likewise." I motioned him.

"I guess but your one is ironically more distinctive than mine." 

"Ironically?" I raised a brow with a smirk.

"We were designed to try to fit a so called objective or popular standard of beauty but you are truly very an essence of true beauty."

"Thank you."

"I envy your body."

I stared, "Excuse me?" I didn't hear right, did I?

"You have a such a muscular and flexible body and in comparison I am thinner and my muscles are less accented and I was always a softer looking Blondie." Looking down sad, "The other Blondie only liked me for my tactical computer skills but even that didn't get me closer to Jupiter." There was a shudder, of rage, "But I was better at computers but Iason got better treatment."

"Meritocracy doesn't pick a favourite, personal palate does." I automatically stroked his hair, I used to do this with people who were upset, "Besides Iason may had aggressive domineering qualities and a flare at charisma. I don't notice most Blondies with that. Raoul is too order oriented and he likes pleasing the gallery, there was Tybalt who looked morose and sleepy."

"He was." Velve looked surprised.

"Then there was three more I know, Kita is a person too interested in market price of pets so I think he preferred living with surplus wealth." Velve nodded, "Juno was a person who preferred doing diplomatic stuff I knew this because Iason sometimes sent him in his stead for doing things." Velve bit his lip, was he immersed, "Then lastly Plargis, who was always concerned with fertility." 

"You know us so well." Velve was amazed, "I guess Iason talked about us."

"That and I got bored so I observed you guys."

"Like we were pets?" Velve said this amusedly.

"I guess."

Velve had this rare gleam and wow — he kissed me. For a moment I didn't know, he broke, it was a hard but innocent kiss, "Can I be your pet for a while. If you want we can." Velve blushed, "I wouldn't mind with you. With you I have a feeling I'll like it you have been so nice to me and..."

"Velvay, I didn't buy you, you are Kirie's pet, so I don't know." I know that sounded stupid especially that I did buy him but he ddn't know that...I wasn't sure, was he offerring a romance?

"I know but if you are willing, know I am too." Velvay intensified, "Please think about it."

"Do I need you? Can I trust you?" I said with a semi-stern eye.

"I guess you can though I am not sure I can trust you."

"No, you do trust me a bit nor else a man does not easily lay down with someone."

"Man."

"Man."

"Oh, man."

"Oh, man."

We looked at each other.

Suddenly, we burst into laughter.

* * *

 

During the first week I did not see Katze. After an eventful first day where I was severely overwhelmed but tired and trying to keep my thoughts and feelings in check I got into a routine of sleeping with a Blondie on top of me. However, Velvay wrapped his arms around my neck and slept in an easy position as though I was his lover. I wrapped him as a lover too. Probably because I felt his fear once and I guess I was still a bit of a sympath to not let him face that fear alone. 

The first couple of days was on Kirie as in he worked a bit meticulously to get his house under control. He made Olivier a head to take care of the five pets. Though he was no longer furniture so he could do as he pleased. Olivier stated, outspoken, that he would sleeop with Kirie if allowed. Kirie allowed it. But Olivier glared at Velve and he got nervous. The other four were happy to dress properly. There were still incompletion in new pet laws so the one year staying rule could apply or not. The two seraphims were given tasks are pure household staff which they accepted with both a tight smile and eager eye. They did not know servitude like this so they seemed to rely on Olivier a bit for instructions. The twins were told to relax and were told to help Kirie manage the goods he wanted to buy for Ithos. The cooks of the house was also a former pet and furniture. But they did not greet the newcomers so enthusiastically. They made it clear to Kirie that they respected him but they were here earlier so they will expect the others to respect them too. Kirie said that Lady Ithos now was a the sister of his household who they would have to honour as him but Olivier was only in pet management so it must be keenly decided who did what and how. The formet pet, Thimble, seemed to recognize Ithos and I could notice a jealousy in the eye that she rose up so fast in what to him seemed a shorter time. Canter, the ex furniture, just gruffed at Olivier. They seemed to know each other too. I think everyone underestimated furnitures a lot. They seemed to have their own grapevine and all and they were more organized and itinery prone than the elite class.

But both the cooks looked at Velvay with disgust and mocking. The first day they served him only cabbage and soup. Burnt soup and really old, musty cabbages. Velvay did not know if he should protest. I decided not to say anything. But the next day during breakfast when they gave him burnt porridge while the other pets ate a festive breakfast of ommlettes, poached eggs, beef, chicken salads mounted with corn and red cabbage and a beautiful butter paste; my actions were not to stay quiet. I went up and threw the porridge that Velvay was miserably eating and the bowl crashed and broke. "If I see this deplorable fuck one more time I will make sure Kirie fires you two and don't pay a pint!"

Kirie saw my anger, our tables were segregrated but the dining hall was not, Kirie made it point to eat with everyone, and came up and addressed the cooks sternly.

"But sir he is nothing but a dirty, useless Blondie look at him!" Canter cried, "Because of their kind my manhood had been destroyed!"

"well, you are showing great manliness by bullying a sick emaciated ex-elite." Kirie shouted back, quietening them a bit. "Look. we all have a grudge against his pampered and mutant species but he is sick and frail and I want to feed him well."  with an added sneer, "I rather have a Blondie healthy than looking like a mongrel, he has no right to act like a mongrel or a slum recipient. Doesn't deserve that honour." Kirie added, "This creature is a pitiful pet. Treat him with pity and don't let your anger with wasted on a pet. Punish him for his insubordinations. And reward him for his good behaviour. That's what pets are for right?" 

Velvay looked ashamed at this speech. His eyes started to water. There was both a nature of schedenfraude and sympathy for him.  

"Well, his being is an insubordination if you ask me." Thimble looked angry, "Why can't we just cull these beasts? They are like the black market freaks now! All bark and bondage." 

"Well, still feed him then. A pet is our responsibility after all." Kirie stated.

Ithos wore her lavender dress but like the uptown girls I saw on Earth she slowly sipped her lemon tea and crossed leg, "Kirie-chan." wow, a familiarity already, "Don't spoil breakfast with this chatter. Come eat. And you two..." She rose up angrily, "Why can't you just feed the fucker and leave him be. He;s just a pet and has neither proven worthy of admiration or scorn." addressing Thimble, "We two were once pets lets see if he has skill to compete with us." then to Canter, "Test him, a Blondie is supposed to be very intelligent IQ of 300 see if he can keep up with you in determination and household work." Looking at Kirie, "You have a garden Kirie-chan, let him tend to our flowers." Then laughing, "A pretty thing for a pretty thing." 

"Well sure why not." Kirie went up to Velvay, "So Velvay, from today you can do a bit of gardening. Let's see you try ok." 

Velvay nodded weakly though he seemed displeased. 

I  had come over, "Have breakfast with me."

Velvay got up without question and ate with me that day. But by lunch time he sat with the pets all glum but he was served adequately by then. 

* * *

 

Katze had gone on an emergency trip and came back at the end of the first week. Unlike the usual quiet atmosphere he seemed to be like Kirie now...wow...energetic and smiling a bit bright. Seeing me made him...run..."Riki!" Grabbed me after a jump surprising both me and Kirie and hugged me. I, of course, immediately hugged back. "I am so sorry." Voice was still melted butter like, "There have been some problems in Tanagura; the part where the Blondies lived." But by then he drew a dagger he had in his long coat and threw it at Velvay...Velvay's face got a deep gash and he fell down wide eyed with fear as the dagger hit a pillar. The seraphim maid and butler screeched in fear. While the twins and Ithos were stunned and Kakash started to tremble and cry a bit while Kira helt Ithos. "So, why the fuck is a Blondie here in our house?" 

 

* * *

 

After explanations Katze accepted and understood, as usual quite fast, what has happened. It was now not uncommon for minsiters to share homes but Katze said that Tanaguran elite place was now robbed of its previosu splendour but they were rebuilding it to be a new suburb for ministers and that Katze wouyld relocate if Kirie and Ithos preferred staying in this home. Katze was very kind to Ithos and congratulated her on being the one-san to Kirie's onii-chan. Ithos took his offered hand warmly too. But Katze then gripped lightly telling that Kirie is a wiser man now and that he too would not tolerate anyone mistreating him. Ithos held her own by saying with a light grip that she does plan on carrying her surname happily. 

I realized that both Katze and Kirie had surnames now. I asked Katze what was his. "It's Endymion." 

And Kirie said nonchalently:

"Oh, it's Dark. Kirie Dark." 

 

* * *

 

"Do you have a last name now as well Riki-san?" Velvay was trying his best to be my personal pet but Olivier had advised Kirie that isolating Velvay with be better so he was merely like my concubine now, platonic concubine that is, like a courtesan or a outrageously vulgar definition of a geisha, he merely served a physical need. Like an extra pillow. To me that was quite rude but the time was difficult and I did not know what to do. Of course people thought he was a pillow but he was much more; we talked these two weeks I stayed. We joked. We were each other companions. 

"Yeah, it's Celt." 

"Celt, really?"

"Yeah, I spend time in Ireland had this romance of a sea up there so thought why not Celt."

"You mean in Earth."

"Mmmhmm." 

"Oh." 

"I could do my genealogy thing a bit better but I decided to let it go for a bit."

"You know your ancestor?" Velvay seemed piqued, wide eyed interested.

"I found a ship log. Of the people who originally came to  Amoi with the growing danger Jupiter, I think my ancestor was a woman named Helena Wu-Xing and a man named Otaru Mamiya."

"You traced them."

"It took a long time but yeah." I smiled, "Otaru was Japanese but Helena was Singaporean. Then Helena's daughter Kinn married a Native American named WarWolf and then their son Chi married a Chinese woman named MingMing but then they were enslaved and marriage hardly happened so... but I have Japanese, Singaporean, Irish, Native American, Chinese and Persian blood in me."

"That sounds like a love sonnet so intricately beautiful."

"Well, it was a struggle." 

"My genes are mostly a mixed Chinese, Japanese and Caucasian cocktail with a bit of African." 

"Oh...? I thought you guys were the purebreed." 

"We are a samples of some races purified in a little petri dish. I realized that in my captivity. Of course not all Blondies had the same cocktail and I don't know about the others."

"It's ok. It's not that important." 

"But you did your genealogy."

"Well, it mattered to my Ceres status." 

"Well, yours is brighter and purer than mine. It has a  history mine is so sanitized it feels like a surgical tool readied to bring out a cyst." 

"Don't feel bad your genes are not the only thing that defines you."\

"Riki-san."

"Yeah Velvay."

"I know this arrangement is not a personal pet thing but...I really like it." 

Smile.

* * *

 

"There is going to be a pet party in southern Autolycus in a place called Bella Air. It's anightclub dedictated to mostly furnishing the new elites." Katze drunk tea, "Kirie I know you wanted Ashe and Ashera to be maids, and Kira and Kakesh to be like personal shoppers but ask them if they would like to attend this party as pets. If not it's fine I suppose." 

"Pet parties; are they like before?" I asked.

"Not really. In pet parties now we usually dance and make out and all that. So people usually forget that there are pets and elites involved though to be honest despite the segrtegation the old order pretty much forgot too." Katze sipped, "Many people kissed their pets at times and fondled and the mating done was more or less sex by proxy. The elite usually chose his best pet to mate with a desirable. So pretty much same." 

"What about the Blondie?" Kirie aked my mind out.

"What about him?" Katze giggled like a maniac, "Get him prepared." Then looked at me, "What you say Riki, getting your Velvay ready."

"I don't want to Katze." I unconsciopusly glared at him, "I am becoming ok friends with Velvay, it's been almost a month and I think it's rude to treat him like a slave." 

"But he is one officially." Katze cocked his head, "If we don't treat him like one we will be getting off on a bad foot."

I think I understood. Katze and Kirie had to do this at least once nor else they will targeted for slander and losing their cause.

"Can we just dress him and have him stay with me the entire night?"

"Yeah sure." Katze winked. "But." Seriously now, "Riki, there are things you might see you might not like." 

Hearing that made me cringe.

I think I knew it before I saw it.

* * *

 

I remembered him as a vague artist who only liked revealing some shades to me. To be honest I know very well that he had a hard time knowing himself playing only parts handed to him ny Jupiter. Unlike Velvay he wasn't so sure of where and what his talents were and I was the only person (personally, Katze didn't know either) that he seemed to confine this too by body language. Trouble with words. That was his main problem beside domineeering. And truthfully the latter he inherited from Jupiter's tutelage and mind fuck. 

So, he seeing him giving a live blowjob to a man I didn't know was very scary if not shocking.

His hair from the back was cut short. Now it was Katze's length and the only the bangs at the front were long. But upto his breast. He was wearing the same chain and leather rig I had to wear. Only his was a dark red. Labeling a scarlet letter. His eyes were hollow as they sucked...

...Until...he saw me...

The sucking stopped and he just looked wide and took a deep breath. I felt the warmer hand of Velvay catch me and squeeze. 

"Fuck, you blonde dog suck properly!" 

His owner slapped his face with a whip. There were gashes on his face already. His nose had a cut and his left jaw did too. 

But he coud not suck.

Staring at me.

And I him.

Until the whip slapped him again and with a big bloody cut on his lip now he sucked and swallowed the man's load. 

Looking up, with a bloody mouth, he smiled and tears came out...

Walking forward he ignored a shout from his keeper and just kissed me softly.

Then Iason Mink hugged me.

I felt his tears on my hair

then on my face.

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Bound, Bonds and Being

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, after like two years I am posting again. I hope you guys like this chapter. It is like 17k. I have not forgotten about this fic. Oh the cuisine mentioned in this chapter is taken from buzzfeed dishes and some other website on thai cuisine for the thai one. I got a lot of info on the novels, I have some of them I think but couldn't read properly, on the wiki, the world of Ai no Kusabi is rich and full of important and intelligent political strife and all of that. Wished the anime showed that more. I also got some info from http://iason-mink.tumblr.com/post/82099167117/im-sorry-if-this-seems-too-big-of-a-question-but on how the noble classification worked. I got info about Ceres independance and all that from wiki. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it =)
> 
> Also I need to thank my friend Dia. Dia explained many things to me, one of them is how Elites can have outerworld lovers in Apatia. I thought all Elites as in Blondies were celibate but it is nice to know from them that Iason is not just the only exception to the norm. And, without Dia's support I wouldn't be able to start writing this again. Thank You Friend.

 

 

**Bound, Bonds and Being**

 

 

I think I got up with a start. My whole body was a whirlwind. I felt the palpitations, ripple, like liquid lead and hot gas, struggling to mix, could not find fission or fusion. I felt a tinge of nausea. I wanted badly to vomit. My lungs felt hollowed and my air diluted, infected by gastronomical surges…I don’t think I made it to the bathroom. I puked all over. My expensive carpeting gone to waste. How the former Blondies would say that I still had the slums in me. Ironically, I didn’t expect some of the vomit to hit _him_.

 

It got on his hair a bit; side of his face partly. I wanted to apologise but I felt I could hardly breathe: “So —“ I coughed loud, then I could feel it, my guts pushing and pulling like two dogs with meat sacks, ripping away at each other. This felt hopeless. It felt completely out of my control and I hated myself for not having any inhibitions to this. To feel so lost and helpless like this. I gorged out more when I realised the comparison — _fuck_ , this reminded me of being a fucking _pet_! Didn’t it? To never know the solitude of my own thoughts — to lie in bed waiting for a master’s ministrations and penetrations — to know him so viscerally and intimately even if I chose not to. Later on, when the lines were blurred, when I went to the hotel in the business sector of Midas and slept with him it seems he forgot that I was begotten as a pet. That the truth begot more than he could mouth. Speaking emotively was not his talent. It is not the talent of any Blondie. They dance in the macabre of logic and link lines, parallel or similitudes, to the vast madness of being in control. Rough or gentle. _Domineering_ was there code.

 

When I vomited, it seemed I was purging that gene from my guts. This was the theatre of nostalgia, memory, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder with a fitting catharsis in the puke of a world lacking pathos and ethos.

 

“Here, please drink.”

 

Velvey offered me a goblet of water. I was seeing it had some rubies on it. It was expensive stuff. I wanted to laugh out loud (lol) literally, because this reminded me of Utopia where gold was harnessed for filth. I was not being satiated as an emperor but as a plagued one of memory. I slurped it up; I coughed but I kept going. The goblet was large and I drank a bit more from a second offering.

 

For a moment, he seemed very quiet. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you tonight.” He started, rubbing his hair (not the part tainted with my vomit), he seemed to smile at me, though softly, “I know it must have been hard for you to protect me a bit from groping hands, rough fists and all that hair pulling with the occasional slaps or punches. But, you truly are chivalric. You protected me. I am,” He sighed at this, “Eternally grateful.” Though, I knew this was not what he really wanted to talk about — not in fully anyway. I wanted to grab him and tell him to just speak clearly already. Yet, didn’t I myself confess that, well, Blondies were not emotive? Their emotional intelligence was worse than a dog’s or cat’s. No disrespect to the nonhumans; just stating that though they had high perception it was regulated and relegated to fit the needs of the specific job position. Their intuition was tailored by a liminality — they spoke as the mute and felt as the quartered. They may talk about the “body without organs” phenomenon like Deleuze and Guattari but they are more interested in it literally. Of course, that was expected from them with their genes spliced and sliced. As, this guy once said. They were born out of the projectile womb of the surgical blade and the cranial spermatozoa of data dissected and drawn from a selective pool. They drank Lethe before they knew death. Mythologies and literature interest me because the world in allegory sometimes explains a truth in a coded brevity.

 

I sipped a bit more, to cleanse my tongue and lips: “What do you wanna really say?”

 

“That.” Velvey stopped, “That I don’t know what to _feel_ either. Seeing, Iason like that. It must have been hard.”

 

“I don’t really know how to answer that you know.” My tone was kind of high and my body language turning to a trembling stiffness that Velvey noticed, “Are you telling me, you, a highly praised Blondie wouldn’t _anticipate_ this? Wouldn’t know if it would come to this? Don’t act _dumb_ okay Velvey! You are a fucking pet too now! Surely, you must have known that you would encounter this guy!”

 

Yeah. He knew it was my rage. Perhaps, what he said was not audacious in the least. It was just a comforting statement; a predictable question. I am overreacting. But, Velvey looks away but not out of annoyance of his own, not fully. His lips tremble. He looks really sad. Maybe, he wants me to angry for him too? Blondies have limited emotional exposure. Probably, he didn’t know how to overwrite the genes for this display. That is why it was better to be understanding and leave the anger to me. I would be good at it. Give it justice. Give it a smarting throb clearer and cleaner like a newly sprung erection. He wanted the Eros and Pathos of anger. He wanted me to not to conceal anything. I didn’t wanna be used a pet. Not as an emotional aid or even an erotic one. However, this time I knew it was not a gameplay of the titles. Velvey clearly didn’t know what to think and what to process.

 

“I am sorry. That outburst was stupid.”

 

“Perhaps,” Velvey took a cloth, that he had seemed to be carrying with him, on his left hand when he had come to help me, I just hadn’t noticed it till now, “I think stupidity benefits over logic here. I wouldn’t say ignorance is bliss. I would say ignorance is anger. The anger of not knowing. Of not knowing how things will precipitate and even flood over. I am not sure I knew how to be that angry as you. You did my share. Thank You.” I usually don’t like formalities, but this “thank-you” was one I needed, my speculations were correct and he needed me to vent for him too. I guess Blondies don’t always know how to be out of control. Raul once told me that rule-breaking for them entailed a subset or an alternative set of rules and frankly that just shows more about them than anyone else. Not that anyone else wouldn’t do that — it just showed how procedurals their minds were and that it required some hierarchies and systems to follow. I wonder when Raul had told this to Iason he was shaping his own counter rule as well? The rules of love and admiration are not clear-cut and usually contextual and the thing was that giving advice could be another gesture of love rather than the popularity of courtship. I know this because Raul had some similarities with Guy. Ironically, they were more common than they I think knew. Not surprising. After all beggars and kings share the most qualities — they all try to survive in their own ways sometimes using similar methods. It is just basically the medians who are prone to be a bit different seeing that they are the friction of the tug of war chain.

 

“I suppose I am angry.” I didn’t know if confessing this would be good; there was no reason to tell him all my feelings. Besides, I thought Blondies with their enhanced nanotech and biotech augmentations could read people easily enough. Though, Iason had trouble reading me. I think it is always easier reading the desires of people more so what their _intentions_ with those said desires would be. I think a Blondie, even given their enhancements, were no different many a times, “Though,” I started this with a very casual tone, a very smooth, almost sanitised tone, an implosion, quiet enough to be the whimper that the world could end in, “I will not say I felt no _joy_ at it. **I**. **Fucking**. **Did**.”

 

For a moment, Velvey actually stopped touching me. It seemed to him I was infected. Some disease or the other had gotten to me. Though, this is the face I think Iason both admired and feared about me. The disdain. The self-exposed existential crisis and its solution. That was something that Iason had longed cherished about me. Yet, I never did it to be his pet; to please this asshole tendencies he had of toying with me and trying to toy with me. It was just who I fucking was. I think in the end Iason knew that too. Now, Velvey was seeing it. He felt almost shocked. Those serene, either emotionless or trembling features seemed to be trembling now…wait, was it _rage_? I thought he could not swayed to anger so easily. That, perhaps, his disposition and his genetics would refrain him, censor him from doing so. Now, there was a _fear_ and a rage.

 

Then, wither it was instinct as a Blondie or the fact that he was incited to new emotions far removed from the ones he experienced, this former Blondie elite slapped me. Hard across the face.

 

I think the room only resounded in the slap he gave me and in it I felt a thrill that defying his principles gave me. Blondie principles were weak as fuck anyway to me. But, I think he also slapped me out of fear for my confession. Then I grabbed my cheek, “I am glad you did slap me. You are angry. That’s good. It’s good for you not to be a stupid prick and face some of your own emotions by yourself.” I laughed and Velvey looked confused, “It’s been long since I felt the sting of disobedience. Maybe, I am doing something right.”

 

“Iason kissed you!” There was a flare in his voice, a sudden quickness, great, it’s great to know he wouldn’t just be clinging to me for protection, there are things you need to do by yourself and want to, “He approached you! He looked tattered but he still recognised you! How can you talk about him like this! He was the highest of the high and he was basically well, your master, right? Don’t you feel any sympathy for him? Don’t you feel anything for him?”

 

“As a master or whatever I felt nothing for him.” I said this point blank and enjoyed seeing Velvey’s shock. It was important people got off this hierarchical high horse and knew the truth, “The sort of enjoyment he wanted from me came at my expense. Blondies are not really supposed to fuck pets but there are exceptions to that rule amongst all of you. Blondies were not supposed to take in sexual activities but I heard that people who came from other planets were lovers to Blondies many a times.  It doesn’t matter what Iason wanted from me. I always feared what he would want. I was young then. I didn’t know what to do. How could I do anything against the highest of the high? That’s what I thought then. Who would I turn to and where would I run? That’s what I thought then. That’s why I did every stupid thing he asked me, every humiliating thing. Of course, Iason probably wanted to see me cry and wanted me to cry that is why he sometimes became depraved and I didn’t enjoy that. He was so much like you. You Blondies are pretty much alike. Can’t cry by yourself so wanna make others do it for you. I didn’t care much of that. I should have known I could run away if I joined some planetary factions who would happy to cull you lot. But even then, I did defy Iason. I never made things easy for him. Even if I relented doing something he wanted I knew very well that I wouldn’t make the process easy and many a times the outcomes either. So, I never loved him when he treated me solely as a pet. I never would anyway. So, you saying that is complete madness. I am not some pet from some damn academy. I have my pride and dignity.” Then I saw how he was intently listening to me, “You should know that too? Your affections of me is also generated by a desire to still be a Blondie in some way is it not? Your pride disallowed you to be a pet and clearly you didn’t mind me a master as long I could give you some love and lover-like attitudes in return. In the end, we slum dogs and you rich ass Blondies are more alike than you know. The only reason we were not seated in Tanagura beforehand was because Jupiter got rid of our ancestors and he couldn’t control them. That’s the only reason you guys were in power. There is no other reason. You guys ain’t special snowflakes far removed from us. You are probably us in some ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ceres organ farm somewhat helped in selecting some genes for you guys. In the end, we humans who were unaltered were needed by Jupiter too. Usually what happens in imperialism. The most valuable commodity from knowing it’s valuable is relegated to the outside of the riches of life.”

 

Velvey looked at me, there was some animosity and it was open, “So, you felt nothing?”

 

“I didn’t say I felt nothing. I felt for him as Iason. The person who finally was able to stop believing in the slave and master bullshit. That is the Iason I can love, I did love, do somewhat love and feel bad for.” I just silenced his hostility, he seemed confused, but slowly grasping my logic, “I am not sad he is a slave. The mighty must fall and become the fodder to the new emperors. That is what even Jupiter proved to the human scientists who invented him and then we proved to Jupiter. This is a cycle of life too. And, yeah before you say anything. It is also personal. It’s not fun that I had to be a slave to some carnal satisfactions of Iason. I always wanted him to be punished for that. If I am to accept him fully I want him to share the same deal I did. There is nothing more and nothing less to it. I think this is justice for me. The best part is, it’s like karma and fate, I didn’t have to do anything. God, somewhere, did it for me and that makes me infinitely pleased.”

 

Velvey looked at me, a bit cool as was his usual demeanour, “So, isn’t then my fall precedent for that cycle? Why do you show compassion for me?”

 

“Because I have nothing personal for you and this isn’t some Ouroboros junction okay?” I am annoyed that he would ask that question, I know he would but it just annoyed me, probably because I didn’t always like answering it and I feel that everyone, in their own way, asked it of me, “A revolutionary may commit the same mistakes as their transgressors. So, can an intellect. Wisdom comes from knowing how much you can differ and how much of your own empathy are you willing to put on. A true ideal attached to a reality is not repeating same mistakes. I am not gonna think I am better than you just because our positions are reversed.” Then I just made the statement, “Because I am not a fucking Blondie and I have no reason or desire to make the same mistakes as you lot.”

 

“Paradoxically,” Velvey seemed amused but also engaged, “Doesn’t that make you better than us?”

 

“I don’t know yet because new Amoi is not gonna get rid of the stuff that old Amoi had and some things will probably stay like some aspects of Ceres organ farm and all these pet auctions and shit.” I was annoyed but I confessed, “But I have no purpose or desire to wanna contribute to that lot. It just made no sense to me that’s all.”

 

“Even in your anger you seem wiser than me.” Velvey looked upon, there was some admiration, “I just felt anger. And, I don’t completely know why…Or, do I?”

 

“I think you are angry because you know fear now.” I just plainly said it, “Blondies before had no fear much. They were the elite. You have to know some fear to know some anger. It just drains you to see the best amongst your little group to be treated as such. It just hurt you. It is meant to. After all, using you guys as pets was a conscious decision based on that.” I just now become conscious of my own vomit now that fucked up the carpet and then used the cloth that Velvey had in his hand to just well clean his hair and his cheek, “I think what you did was normal of you. Human of you.”

 

“And you?” Velvey touched my hand softly, “Why do you well act the way that you do? Is it fear or anger that made you vomit?”

 

“I guess both. I did not like so much seeing Iason like that. It also reminds me of my own ordeals. I am human after all.” I had to admit.

 

“Riki-chan.” Velvey looked serious all of a sudden, “There is something I need to confess.” I realised, in my gut this is not going easy for me to stomach, “I told everyone my name was Velvey and it many ways it is. It was a pet name given to me by an Onyx Elite I used to like. My real name is Aisha Rosen.”

 

I didn’t answer. Not with words.

 

I looked at this guy with an aggression I think he half-expected and half-didn’t.

 

I punched Velvey or Aisha Rosen right in the face.

 

* * *

 

 

“I suppose I figured it out a bit.” Katze was talking to me in the car, a nice limousine, it was actually a white one. It’s funny, seeing a white, platinum grade limousine before would make me feel unpleasant and shiver. Now, it seems I own one with Katze Endymion and Kirie Dark.  “The face looked a lot like Aisha Rosen’s especially the signature lipstick of a dark shade of purplish-blue. Never thought I would see that famous Unyielding Noble one with a dishevelled face and stink. His long blonde hair was also in a tussle. I am not surprised that you punched him though.” Katze was giggling now, much to my lividness and annoyance. Hell, I didn’t make it less exposed I was mad and exasperated like anything, “I expect that much from Riki the Dark.”

 

“Oh Shut up Katze.”  I snapped at him. My indignation at this moment had no bounds though I put up in the bondage of stammering feet and a nervous knee with a facial tic. That asshole Velvey was not Velvey but Aisha Rosen. Well, he was lying a bit by omission. I guess a Blondie is a Blondie after all. No manner of kindness would really be enough to change their habits of subterfuge and clandestine tongues. No, okay, that sounded pretty discriminatory. I shouldn’t just judge him on that alone. I mean, wouldn’t I lie if I was in the same position? Surely, I think I can be less mad now but…I was being nice to Velvey. All he had to do was just tell me the truth. _Well, he kinda did Riki_ , that inner damned voice, _You can’t blame him for the time. I mean, he had to know how to trust you. Still, it can hurt, just don’t let it get to your head._

 

“You can’t tell me to shut up now Riki.” Katze looked extremely amused and fascinated. Something was going on in that analytical and cunning brain of his that could give Blondies a run for their money, “You have the former head of Tanagura as your pet —“

 

“You know he isn’t really my pet though.” I interrupted, “Not that I feel he is.”

 

“You have to _treat_ him as _one_ now Riki.” Katze was serious, his posture with his crossed legs and his hand with a protruding finger on the right side of his face, “I mean, if word got out we were being nice to the former head and leader of Tanagura it would really bad politically. Not that in the politics of the universe, especially on Earth, there are no lack of former politicians of one regime heralding a new one in some shape or form this isn’t the situation now. We can’t be too complacent or cosy. There are many who would attack Kirie and myself, you no doubt. Don’t go creating new enemies when we really don’t have any shortage of old ones.”

 

“And, by treating him as a pet you mean making him mate with others and just taking him to parties and crap.” I looked bored so obviously that Katze looked amused.

 

“Well, there are no rules nowadays that you can’t have intercourse with a pet yourself you know.” Katze nonchalantly mentioned, “Who knows maybe Aisha would easily put out seeing that it may have side benefits for him; don’t you agree?”

 

I was quiet for a long time. “I really don’t know how to really answer that. You are kinda implicitly suggesting that I also fuck him myself and that it would look to the new order. I don’t know if I wanna have sex would someone as vulnerable and exposed as Aisha Rosen. I am not a fucking Blondie who take that kind of delights you know. I don’t think I was ever a sadist either. Feels,” I stopped midway and I was like struggling to find the simplest words, Katze noticed from the corner of his eye, “ _Wrong_. Pretty wrong.”

 

“The NORAM caste system was an oppressive piece of fuck,” Katze was getting to the point alright, “You really think people cared that it was _wrong_ or that the Blondies cared that it was _wrong_? Don’t be too sentimental Riki. It doesn’t suit us or you. I know you know that.”

 

“This isn’t about sentimental crap!” I slapped my armrest in the car, “What the fuck Katze I am coercing someone to have sex with me, is that how you want me to operate? I am not just gonna be some image, some face okay, if I am Riki the Dark I want my actions to matter!”

 

“Precisely why you should use Aisha to your advantage Riki.” Katze now stopped resting his hand on his face and looked at me intently, “Look Riki, I know I am asking a lot out of you but you can’t seriously think that your actions alone, how you behave, is only gonna set an example? I am not saying it won’t but people want their sense of justice, no matter how warped it is, to happen. How can I say no to that? You think it’s fair? C’mon listen to yourself. It sounds kinda incredulous and a bit too callous. You know that at least you have to do something. Given that Blondies are intelligent and intellectuals probably Rosen mind a shag or too whether you topped or bottomed, so is that bad? You and I both know to an extent how Blondies work. They are pretty unemotional as it is. If he sees a logic, a sign of advancement in sleeping with you, I don’t think he will decline.”

 

“Shouldn’t I have some kind of consent?” I seriously meant this. Sex was no fun without both of you not wanting to rip at each other or hold each other. The key word here being _both_. I just couldn’t just ravage Aisha. There is a chance we may be physically on some level, though Blondies are supposed to be really strong I do believe that malnutrition, trauma, the state of one’s bodily functions and even the context provides to strength. Though Blondies were inhibited in pain some even like Iason capable of not feeling almost anything physically so they can still be hurt and to an extent psychosomatic hurt is not easily ignored no matter how much gene splicing you did. Aisha was hurt I punched him, both a bit physically and a lot mentally. I know it was harder than the slap he gave me. Now, I just going to waltz in there and say that I am gonna fuck him either top or bottom. The time didn’t seem right.

 

Katze gave a guffaw, starting giggling, “Oh Riki you romantic,” different lilt to it than Riki the dark, “Are you sure you need consent from pets? I mean,” he looked a bit serious though still giggling, “Did Iason ever take consent from you?”

 

I felt the jab in my heart and gut. Katze stopped giggling. He looked like he wanted to apologise but I spoke first, “I guess I know how horrible and humiliating it feels and I just have the brazenness to do that to another person.” I almost stammered, my panic attack seemed somewhat there, though I had the trauma and the post-traumatic stress disorder under control for the most bit, “And, as I mentioned before, Katze, I am not an insensitive and emotionally castrated fucked up gene doll Blondie. Don’t ask me to act like one. Besides, I hardly feel they understood what they did emotionally seeing they are fucking messed up in their DNA to not exhibit or perceive emotions and empathy. Not, in the way I do or maybe even you.”

 

“Do you really think?” Katze looked somewhat indignant, “That really is a good excuse for all that they did Riki? You and I fucking know it’s not and it’s not enough.”

 

“Look Katze,” I was getting annoyed again, “You were not a saint either I mean you helped them with their operations in Guardian and Ceres, with the organ farming too, and the Black Market. You had some moral compass I presume and those are pretty unethical things right, so why are you not giving slack…” I got cut off by my own realisations.

 

Katze must have figured it out, “It’s true I will never be able to completely forget what I did. Maybe, I will never be able to atone for it. But, the people who made me do all of it were the Blondies. If I am to suffer I am not gonna suffer alone. I was indebted to Iason for not executing me. I enjoyed his company and I admired that he was the Ice Noble. I will admit that I revelled in it. Probably, because he was my former master and I was his furniture. Possibly, I envied that he had no feelings and so I felt the world wouldn’t wear him down. I hated you a bit because you made Iason actually _human_. He started caring and he actually wanted my advice on things. He was so invested in you. I was probably jealous of that too. But, at the end of the day, he did order me to do most of the shit I did even if I was good on it on my own too. But, was there any other choice than dying? I mean, probably you had but I didn’t. I am gonna try to make up, even if I die, what I did but then those fuckers will also have to as well. I am not the only one responsible, Riki. Don’t you dare say I was.”

 

I am quiet. There is some shame and some guilt. Katze wasn’t wrong. I may have put too much pressure on him. I sighed, “I am sorry Katze. I really am.”

 

“I know.” Katze then hugged me a bit tenderly, “I just feel I can count on you. I felt like this for a long time after you left. That you are probably the only person I could really count on. When I told Guy that,” he stopped, seeing my reaction was calm, he went on, “That he may find it hard to believe or accept but that you and Iason were in love. I may have thought you were Master and Pet. But, clearly, I was mistaken. You mastered Iason a lot too. Possibly, I didn’t wanna admit it initially. Now, I have to. I need you with me on this Riki,” I thought I almost heard him sob, “I really can’t do this on my own. I am sure, neither than Kirie. We need you and want you. Please try to understand us. We don’t enjoy hurting people. We don’t enjoy doing all of this. And, you know me from before and you know I didn’t enjoy that ever. Now, just don’t go off feeling we are just trying to recreate the hierarchy of before. We know it will take time for changes even if all can’t be wiped out.” He moved away from, kept me in his arms’ lengths, and smiled, “Trust us.” He did look teary. I must have hit a nerve. I don’t enjoy tormenting people I like, in this way.

 

I put my hands on his shoulders too, “Look, Katze,” I had to look at him, “I also trust you and I also really can count on you and Kirie. But…” I looked down, “I just can’t force myself on Aisha Rosen. I just can’t really do that. It feels odd you know. Do you really,” I looked up now, “Want me to have sex with him? Like, it has to be me, right?”

 

“Think of it this way.” Katze tilted his head, “Better you than other people at pet parties, right? I mean, you have a conscience and I am sure you will treat him well. Think on it. I probably know you either don’t wanna be near him now or avoid him like a disease. You hate being lied to and he lied to you. I understand that. But, we can’t be too lenient on him. Think on our new situations. It will seriously look bad Riki.”

 

“I am.” I had to just say it, “I was thinking if Aisha Rosen was once the administrator and head of Tanagura. Like, can’t we still use his skills? It would be good.”

 

“I don’t think our allies would be too thrilled with a Blondie in charge in either way.” Katze went back to sitting cross legged, “I mean, it would be antithetical to the revolution too obviously to do that and to keep them around too much. I know they also, well, were taking backseats in Guardian and Ceres situation. But, they had their fingers deep in all that shit with me as the face of it. They are cunning like that so people know that having them so overtly in charge would not be good. Though, we are trying to make exceptions. Like Juno is still working a bit on the back. I think he doesn’t give a shit that Jupiter is overthrown and as long as he is still under some form of directive and can control stuff. There are some Onyxes around too. I mean Onyxes were the lowest of their tier and Earth has bought many of them, some for study and some for you know higher functions. But the Platina and the Blondies are not going to be trusted a lot. That is for sure. Even if you want him to have a secure job I don’t think it will happen soon but Aisha could come into some use later on. We have all the blueprints of Tanagura. We could question him later on any secrets we were not meant to know about…” Katze seemed to be pondering as he put his hand under his chin.

 

I am beginning to think if I should have told Katze about Aisha Rosen. Not that I don’t trust him, but, “Katze, do you intend to torture him?”

 

“I don’t think anytime soon.” Katze winked at me, I grimaced and he smiled apologetically, “I do think he wouldn’t mind telling us some things on his own accord though. Why not you just ask him some stuff? That could be helpful.”

 

I sighed and closed my eyes, folded my arms, “Is this really what you would have me do now? Some sort of fucking and interrogation?”

 

Katze looked amused but also crossed his arms, “Riki, do you have anything you wanna do? Anything in mind?” he almost gave a sarcastic chuckle.

 

“Not that I know of.” I confessed. Truthfully, I didn’t want to but no lies were coming up and I had no idea what to say, was in a rock and hard place, “I was planning of walking around Ceres to wax a bit nostalgic but I don’t know if I can really do that seeing it now manifests as the shithole it used to be.”

 

“There are talks.” Katze started a bit quietly, “That people want the new capital to be shifted to a newly designed Ceres. I actually support it. I think it is good. The Galactic Commonwealth also feel having Ceres, the liberated ‘democracy’ of the old world would help tourism and immigrants to come over. Especially, Earthians.” Katze looked at me, “In fact, I don’t think Amoi would have any trouble helping former refugees from planets like Earth. Though, people want some selection. People always want that.” Katze lit a cigarette and started to smoke, I grimaced a bit because though I could also probably use one I hope this top grade had a good ventilation system because I was not keen on second hand smoking, “I suppose we already have Earthians or Earthlings amongst us. Some came with the boon of the Commonwealth and some just were curious to fill up the jobs that had opened up due to us getting rid of the all those former placeholders. And, yeah before you say it, some are in prison, some work as pets now themselves and some just loaf around begging in the streets of Midas. There were many who were also killed. The Autolycus Immigration Act is kind of anyone with specialised skills on Earth. Of course, the Galactic Commonwealth would want most of their own to occupy us.

 

Though, we are being a bit strict because we don’t want powerful individuals coming in and getting too integrated into Amoi as it is. It may cause us future problems. We have our own independence even if now port planet for Earth and Freyja. Earth and Freyja can’t get too conspicuously involved with us because them Left wing right activists would tell them they are violating national and human rights. As long as we are liberated many people are still happy everywhere around even if they don’t understand the mechanics of post-independence or even if they do they would want to still love to believe everything is fine. Not to mention, new independence of a planet no else is on everyone’s lips. New land means free for grab too. That is why I am I am being a bit forceful in my advice for you to bed Aisha. We need some stability of our own. If not bedding at least don’t be too kind. People may think we have ulterior motives contradicting what we are negotiating and selling them. Freyjans had a 62% approval rating of giving capital punishment to Blondies. This could be an old grudge that Freyjans were driven out of the Abis Think Tank operations when the new Amoitian Blondies were allowing some denizens from outside come in. Even so, we can’t play to that gallery or this one. We need to think a course of actions, independent from what the outsiders think. After all we were here beforehand.”

 

I had to listen intently to Katze. He was politically well-informed. While on Earth I did the immature move of avoiding most news because it affected me at times a bit too much. But, now I am more or less a delegate and it is important to know what others are thinking, obviously. I am a bit more biased to Earthians as I was in a way a Earthian. However, Freyjans are obviously important too. There were many humans in Freyja and it was vast majority human populated planet. Which was also because humans had colonised Freyja back God knows when. I need to re-read history. The indigenous Freyjans whose species were classified as Ballibibs, to them Freyja was Ballibibus, only make up like 20% of the population and 80% of the population where either humans or hybrids. The Ballibibs are an affectionate race. I remember seeing many Ballibib settlers on Earth who had become Earthians. They look human only they had Elven ears, gills to help filter dust (Ballibibus had once many harsh deserts and windstorms that also went to its mangrove majority areas) and breathe a little longer in water and they also had two sets of lashes one fastened to their naturally thinner eyebrows. Ballibib-Human hybrids were usually just referred to as human or Ballibib considering which species’ majority gene traces they had. Seeing that pure Ballibibs were hard to come by, thanks to humans being scum at times, I wonder how we could make Jupiter to blame for everything when he learned everything from us. The Ballibibs were a set of one evidence.

 

“I can’t stand Aisha or Velvey or what his face is right now let alone tell him to fuck around with me.” I lit a cigarette too. I was feeling too much pressure and this sucked ass. I just wanted a warm bath and some food. I snickered. Some of my habits were still like that fifteen-year-old of the slums. I would probably even eat the Bouillon Cube even if Katze and Kirie, mostly Kirie, will look at me as though I lost it. Fuck, I’m hungry I think. Could use some coffee or maybe even some fresh spiced curries.

 

“Either you are thinking of something naughty, or you are thinking of food, or both.” Katze looked amused, “I am pretty hungry myself. Famished actually.”

 

“It’s a good thing we are going to a dinner.” I thought as I puffed out a smoke.

 

“Yeah, Einif was nice to invite us. It was good of him to call again and to ask Ithos, Kirie and us to join him.” Katze stubbed his own cigarette, he seemed a bit tired, “Though I do believe our talks would go into politics which you may not enjoy. Yet, Einif is a minister now so it is good for us to converse and get shit off our chests and plates.”

 

“Don’t mention Aisha Rosen to him, okay.” I requested, “This is going to be bad if he knows.”

 

“It may be bad if he doesn’t.” Katze looked at me a bit questioningly. “I mean we can’t all be in the no-know you know.”

 

“You just want support for me to fuck Aisha.” Yup, this conversation was getting annoying again.

 

“Sure, that would be inviting but it would look like a lack of trust if we don’t mention it to him at least.” Katze explained and he had some pressure to his voice as if I was acting quite silly, or petulant.

 

“Then, maybe, I should just tell him I saw Iason Mink at a pet party sucking on some ugly dude’s load too.” I was surly for sure.

 

It got pretty quiet for a while. “I was hoping when you fucking wanted to talk about that.” Katze had an alarmingly cool to him, he looked angry but just restrained it a little, “Are you really going to say that he deserved that Riki?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

And Katze had his hands on the collars of my shirt in an instant, it was not rough, just firm, “You think I enjoy this? I can’t really protect him you know. He is drugged up, messed up and he is pretty much fucked or is forced to fuck people. It tears at me.” Looking at me dead in the eye, “I thought, you, at least, would feel sorry.”

 

I grabbed his hands, “Here we were hugging a few moments ago,” with that Katze did let go of me, “You said we all had responsibility. How can you play favourite to Iason Mink and not Aisha Rosen?” I was angry now and I slammed the arm rest again, “Don’t go thinking I enjoy all the time the fact that Iason was like that. But, I can’t always easily forgive him for what he did. I am even forgetting all the fucked-up shit he helped Jupiter do. I am thinking of myself. You think it was easy loving him? It wasn’t. The young me was helpless and wanted to forget some of that shit. But, I always wanted him to be faced with that shit he dished out to me. It’s only fair. Just because he is a Blondie means nothing. He hurt me. It was calculated and it took time to realise it was wrong but it was surely something that hurt me a lot.”

 

“For the longest time I wanted to be castrated.” Katze looked emotionless when he said it, “I guess we have a complicated relationship to Iason Mink.” He chuckled, “We love him at the same time hate him. Maybe, we love that he did have the potential to change. Now, we are not sure what to do with him. I know I didn’t. Giving him sanctuary was to Kirie a betrayal and to other ministers a transgression I may have had to pay in blood. I am not really scared of dying but I am not keen on dying anytime soon either. I guess he was going to the mascot, the effigy which had to be burned down in a way. When I got into this I know this would happen. It didn’t help that I didn’t completely like it. Perhaps, I too begrudge him the fact he made a slash on my face. Though, I was hypocritically in begrudging you your set of emotions. Sorry, about that Riki.”

 

“It’s okay.” I had to say he looked teary again, there was so much weight we had to carry, it was an underestimation to merely call it unfair, “But should we mentioned Aisha and Iason? Frankly, I am a bit suspect to how Einif is going to act.” I was concerned and my face showed it clearly because it made Katze stare, “It could lead to a problem, shouldn’t we tread carefully?”

 

“As I mentioned, it would seem kinda impolite and feel unsafe if we hide it. I know Einif has his own grudges against the Elites but I will make sure he conducts himself with propriety.” Katze seemed sure on this so I decided to trust him on it.

 

The car stopped and we got out.

 

In a similar limousine Ithos and Kirie got out.

 

Ithos looked pretty well. She looked more fresh, her sense of grace augmented and she now wore a beautiful midnight blue dress that had also had black and red highlights. It was long and had skin hugging sleeves and a slit. Kirie wore his white suit with a reddish-pink shirt and looked happy. From what I could tell Ithos and Kirie were getting along in a familial relationship. They had their conversations but Ithos kept to herself at times reading some books, mostly magazines and going shopping for both herself and the manor. She also had Kira and Kakash with her during her shopping and they all seemed to get along. I don’t think Kira liked her much. It was not that she was a horrible person but Ithos seemed to have taken up her life as a lady like those wealthy ladies of the Midas traditions. I saw she also spent a week at the beach planet of Bhakti were she still had a soft tan. I think Kira and I were concerned about who she was really. Perhaps, she was figuring that by herself too? Or, was she always having her own plans? Though pets are bred with other pets I have never seen Ithos have a pairing though she was a former pet. She told me that she had once been but she was also not deemed suitable to have children or something so they later on just kept her as a courtesan in Midas. Ithos seemed to like gardening and did kinda be rude to Aisha while he helped out. There was nothing else she seemed to enjoy at the moment but just living. I wonder if she ever planned on sleeping with Kirie or just use him or just be satisfied with what she was doing and had acquired the position of. It was sometimes hard to read what she was thinking, perhaps, she wasn’t. Perhaps, as I thought, she just wanted to relax.

 

Kirie looked happy as me and seemed to be just content we all came to eat. He hadn’t taken the news of Velvey being Aisha Rosen too well and was also a bit on my case on saying why he had to buy him. It was a hassle as Katze told me in the car. However, Kirie just didn’t like seeing Aisha or talking to him. Yesterday morning, he even said he didn’t wanna see Aisha and he had to take his meals in his room. It had been two days since me punching him and Aisha had gotten quiet. Those two days he didn’t come to my room. I think we are both debilitating that.

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner consisted of many items.  I was surprised at seeing so much food all of a sudden. Back at Earth I ate little or much according to my palate or stomach. When I was in Eos or Tanagura I was flooded with food like this but many a times I had no appetite for it. I only swallowed food because I was exhausted, by having sex with Iason or even when I was depressed and I think I felt nothing in my mouth. Once Iason had said he found me wiped out and drunken asleep by the amount of sake I had ingested. I had told him to “fuck off” which only made him kiss me and tell me not to stop being defiant. Which made angry and slap him. He was impressed and slapped me back. I was around like sixteen then and the force of the larger body hit me.  I was taken aback and fell down. He told me not to do that again but I could see in a glint in his eye that he was hoping I would which made me call him a perverse piece of shit. Iason sometimes dined with me which was kinda unheard of between pet and master. But, he seemed to love eating with me. Like, even if I had a sour face he would come up to me to feel me. It was funny, despite being a Blondie Iason seemed to crave proximity and intimacy, especially from me. Once he even mentioned that my name was like sugar in his mouth. He also stated that he would rip my beating heart and press it against his face because my disdain was too beautiful and adorable to not love.

 

“If I die you would have to fuck with my corpse.” I just stated it as clearly as I could, “You know I wouldn’t hold that far above you. Weren’t you called ‘the connoisseur of the bizarre’ or some crap like that? I can even picture you eating my heart you are already cannibalising on my spirit. There is like no reason you wouldn’t be too happy to do that too.”

 

For some reason, Iason had looked pretty disturbed I had said that. That night he didn’t spend time with me. And, when he did later on he grabbed me so closely while we did it and almost wanted me to moan loudly and scream loudly, writhe like I was breaking him too: “Fuck you…” he spat it out, while kissing me, “Fuck your beauty. I…I need it…I need you alive…like this alive…your corpse is not you…”

 

I had never known him to speak like that when we had sex. During that time, I couldn’t call it making love nor was it accurate to say so. He was being a complete asshole and thought he could as inhuman as he wanted to be. But, he never factored in my feelings in. Even if he did he must have ignored them because he just wanted to push me further and push into me and just be with me. Something about me made him happy: the fact I could care less about him being a Blondie. When I offered him sex and was teasing him I think that was when he realised it, that I didn’t care he was a Blondie. I did say to him I didn’t wanna be born in the slums but I also said that he could leave with his tail caught up in his legs and leave. That made Iason almost angry. Like he never thought he would been issued a credible challenge by a Ceres mongrel. That is when he said he wanted to see me cry. I guess the older I grew I found it less audacious that he had asked Katze to give me the job in the first place. As time went on Iason stopped calling me ‘creature’ less too. When he had forced aphrodisiacs into my system to torture me after I slept with Mimea he had called me ‘a poor creature.’ However, later on he just called me Riki. He also started to say babe more, even beau. It was somewhat frightening because he turned from emotionless monster to kind of trying to act like a normal lover.

 

I looked at the food and I realised I couldn’t lose my appetite over thinking about the past. I didn’t wanna curb my hunger. I looked at the banquet; it seemed to be a mixture of Thai and French cuisine from Earth with even some Ceres dishes. There seemed to be a more appetising version of the Bouillon cube. There was a vegetarian type and there was non-vegetarian type of that. The waiters brought out Soupe á L’oignon, which looked like some fancy soup that looked some savoury pudding. There was also Magret de Canard. I was looking at some of the dishes on the menu (they actually printed out one like small basic print paper and just laminated it; Einif may like flashy but maybe he would not like to be wasteful now that he was a minister) — there was confit de Canard too. You could eat both. There was Poulet Basquaise. The last one was a chicken and pepper stew speciality. In the Thai part of the meal there were appetisers like the exquisite There was wanton, pan fried dumplings, endamame, tofu triangles and coconut shrimp including Shumai. There were many Thai curries including the green one and glass noodles. It looked pretty sumptuous. After trying the dumplings and the Soup á L’oignon I decided to go for the Magret de Canard and have some Pissaladiére which was a sort of pizza made out of anchovies. I knew it was not custom to mix Thai food and French food and some gourmands would find this atrocious but seeing all of us, except Katze, came from poverty where experimentation was a good way of life we did not want to question this ensemble. Ithos on the other hand did comment she found it strange but somewhat relaxing. She primarily ate Thai meals but had the Soupe á L’oignon. Kirie ate a bit of almost everything and Katze prioritised on the French meals. He too commented it was an outré set of meals but that it felt okay because of a private function with us and reminded Einif not to serve like this to delegates unless it is a buffet.

 

After the meal, we went into the large veranda; it was long and wide and so spacious, like a Minister’s home should be. The moons were out, one of them halving the other in its rotation. It looked peaceful and it made me feel happy. There were nights when Iason slept I would look at the moons as a sign of hope because I had tasted a life worse than a Ceres mongrel: the life of sex slave. Though, it sometimes felt that Iason was also trying to talk to me. At times, I read him as frustrated, quizzical of his brow, tightening of his lips and he would even go down on me on those times. It was like he was trying to speak to me but couldn’t and was using sex as a tool to cleave the barrier. Now, that is dysfunctional if ever but I never really stated out loud. It wasn’t fear that really stopped, at times it was, but he found most things I did amusing and I didn’t like that one bit. It was like he was a kid with me; looking at me with amazement, a fucking creepy kid who would have mood swings and tantrums and all of that. So, the moons used to soothe me. It reminded me I was still in the same universe; ironically, they grounded me. The moons from Eos or Tanagura were the same moons I saw in Ceres even if the windows were different and even if the positionality had changed. I realised in those times that the Ceres life was not as unbearable as it seemed. All my life I hated the Ceres Independence Act with a lot of conviction. I thought why did these fuckers pine for freedom so much? Look what they left in Midas for! The dirt, the unsanitary life and the lack of resources — to live in Ceres was to eschew the fact that you were human at all.

 

How fucking wrong was I?

 

I realised in my greatest misfortune as a pet that the Ceres Independence Act was a very important rebellion. It defied the Blondies, it defied Midas and everything those both stood for and it defied Jupiter. The denizens of Sector 9 must have known that life in Midas, chained to Tanagura, may ultimately mean what the fuck happened to me. Graphic exploitation of the most debased sexual kind. When I was a slave I did some reading. Iason saw no harm at it. When I was Earth I got the whole truth because Earth may censor its own histories, a point Eduardo Galeano made in his book _Upside Down_ , but they would gladly tarnish Amoi with the truth. They stated that Midas recognised Ceres Independence Act, that no life was loss, not one and that Sector 9 became free. However, when Ceres asked for their reparations those cunning Midasians said that they were no longer citizens as their records were deleted thus they had no credible holding. Basically, Midas fucked Ceres over. Without technology, without resources, transport, basic food and lodging the Ceresians became poor. They had their freedoms but they were given as punishment from the unfair ruling class to live in poverty and squalor. It was manipulating the legal systems like anything. Ceres deserved those reparations. They had made it a point during their independence. They deserved it because they were people and because they were strong enough to lobby against that asshole Jupiter and his cronies. However, the Ceresians had no idea that the people of Tanagura and the Midasians would actually dissolve their citizenship record to prevent them getting their discussed lot. It was one of the most disgusting things the old order had done. One of the worst things to do. It would have been wise if Earth or the Galactic Commonwealth had helped then but they knew it was a bad move to make, seeing Ceres would take time to develop an industry, so they didn’t. Also, some Earthians believed that it was good to keep that dictator Jupiter in line. After all having a dictator around allowed them to be distinguishable from the Amoits and also feel they could use their economy and nationality for their own unsavoury acts. Earthians were pretty selfish. Humans could be pretty fucking selfish. But, they could be incredibly beautiful and kind too.

 

And the two moons reminded me of the two halves of the human face.

 

That was if there is despair there is bound to be hope too somewhere.

 

Some waiters, who looked like ex-furniture and ex-pets, came rushing forward to give us coffees and teas. There was a whole selection of white teas, green teas, red teas and coffees. I was debilitating if I should try a green tea or a cappuccino.

 

“If you want to rest after dinner I would suggest the green tea. If you want a night of sleeplessness or some pondering I would suggest you eyeing the cappuccino.”

 

That voice!

 

I looked up to see a Blondie in rags. Like really smelly rags. It wasn’t putrid just musty.  His hair was cut in a half hazard way because some of his front locks, matted a bit as they were, were long and his back seemed cropped to his ears. He was wearing a collar and his thighs had scars. Deep scars. Some of the lacerations looked fresh. He was wearing a skin-tight tank top, which had stains on it and it was a lighter blue in colour. And, he was wearing a chain-like thong. He shivered because the night air was cool. I was staring maybe with my mouth open; he looked away and down in embarrassment, or even resentment: “Orphe Zavi.”

 

“In the flesh.” He twirled around, showing his butt, exposed and kinda red, open scars on them also looking fresh, he broke out in laughter, his wide and red shot, for a few minutes he laughed like that making both Ithos and Kirie look at him. Katze was just drinking what looked like a white tea and seemed least bothered and Einif didn’t give a fuck. “So,” his eyes were bulging as he neared my face, “What will it be, Riki the dark?” Then he actually touched my face, “So smooth and soft and cared for…” the last part was bitten and exploded like a pus, “Never thought I would see the day when a former slum mongrel face is smoother than mine…hehe…” And then he started laughing again. Tears came out of his eyes.

 

Fuck, has he lost it?

 

Some guards came in and whipped him away. I could just stare where he exited.

 

Katze was so quiet it was getting fucking disturbing without any question from me. Kirie only looked a bit alarmed. Ithos just shook her head; she probably knew it was Orphe Zavi. I was pained by Katze’s silence. I forgot my coffee, was handed to me by an ex-pet waiter (I know it was ex-pet by a certain familiarity and joy seeing her talk to Ithos), walked right up to Katze and glared at him.

 

“Is there something you want to say Riki?”

 

“Look, can you drop this fucking act Katze.” My glare grew, I bared teeth, Kirie looked a bit stunned, Ithos, out of my corner of my eye, looked impressed. I turned back to attention, “Are you gonna ignore that we just saw Orphe Zavi in here barking like a wild man — what the fuck you have him on?!” My latter question was directed towards Enif, who looked up from his tea, a mild green with apple scent.

 

“Look Riki,” I think he was being pretty patient of me, after all I was screaming at him in his own house, “This matter doesn’t really concern you that much.” Then quickly, probably seeing my teeth more, “I am not saying you can’t me questions.  I am just saying that I bought him as a pet. Yes, he has many drugs administered to him. But, that was not me you know. It just happened to be during interrogation and during the revolution. His mind went bonkers a bit and I just bought him. That’s really the whole story and the end of it.” Then he giggled a bit, “I find it amusing that the Chief of Operations of Eos is now a pet himself!”

 

“That’s not funny Enif!” I banged at his table, making Katze even look at me intently and Kirie give a sharp intake of breath, Ithos softly cried out too, “You bought him on purpose! You bought him to make him an example!”

 

“Riki,” Enif got up with concern and patience, “You are saying like it’s a _bad_ thing.”

 

Katze seemed to glare at me now. I glared back. I knew I could probably beat him at a staring context but I had no time to be dicking around.  “Look Enif,” I started, with an apologetic look, “I am sorry for this commotion but…” I swallowed a bit, “Is it necessary to keep him like this? I mean you can probably treat him, right?”

 

“Where is the fun in that?” There was a malice in it, I reminisced and realised it was just like when Enif acted with me during that pet party those so many years ago, he still had the academy in him, surely, that explained all that was needed, “I mean, he is the head of Eos now a pet by a pet that he pretty much also had no double thought discarding.” Enif laughed now, “I am happy. Yes, call it schadenfreude or whatever but I love it. It is best for him. This place. I wouldn’t want it any other way. They drugged us up too. Tortured us and all that. Why should I be compassionate to a being now lower than a pet and mongrel? We reap what we sow as they say.”

 

Katze looked at me now blankly but I glared at him, “You _knew_?”

 

“I did.” Katze answered, there was flicker of defeat in his eyes. I think he realised how much he fucked up with me.

 

“And here you are in your righteousness pedestal telling me what the fuck to do and you forget to mention that you knew where one of the 13 were. That is pretty messed up hypocritical right there. You know it!”

 

Katze looked away from me and sipped his tea. I think he could feel my eyes.

 

And, he realised he couldn’t talk about Aisha here now seeing that he royally screwed over.

 

“Please Riki, if I upset you I am sorry.” Enif intervened, “I don’t think we should ruin our dinner party with all of this, what do you say Katze?”

 

Katze nodded. He wasn’t looking at me. I was glad because nor else I would probably just show him teeth and anger.

 

Then, I quietly asked, “Enif…” I swallowed hard, “Do you know what happened to Iason Mink?”

 

Everyone suddenly quiet. The waiting waiters including our own party.

 

“Well, yes I do.” Enif drank his tea a bit and then asked, as he sat back down, “Why do you ask?”

 

“I just was hoping to meet him that’s all.”

 

“Well, I did fuck him once. So, he was here.”

 

It was like being punched in the gut

 

“You did?” I eyed Enif who simply drank tea.

 

“Yeah he was brought here. He usually comes here or some other places because he was closest to Jupiter and we always need to interrogate him. His mind is a bit addled. And his body weak. You know Blondies are really engineered a lot and they also have special maintenance food but with Jupiter gone none of those privileges are theirs anymore. He offered a bit to have a tussle so I topped and bottomed him. He did for some good food and we had an agreement.”

 

I was feeling kinda sick. Iason whoring himself for food. Never thought I would hear of the day or see it. But it was right here. And, it was the unprecedented we must lie in wait for. That unprecedented had happened. When Iason was with that guy in the pet party, was he also doing that for some food? He may have chosen death but people may have decided they wouldn’t let him get killed. And, Iason probably wanted to see what happened. But, this was seemingly unlike him.

 

“So, who is his owner now?”

 

“No one really takes him up permanently. They are also not keen to as he is always beaten and interrogated and he becomes a miserable sobbing mass. Also, people thought as he was the big shot before that it would be wise not to own him permanently. Who wants the baggage, am I right?” Enif asked his rhetorical question and signalled a waiter to give him more tea which he got.

 

I sat down by myself and drank my cappuccino.

 

I needed to see Iason Mink.

 

* * *

 

“I had a feeling you would come to see me soon.” He smiled, he looked emaciated and weak, I couldn’t bear to see him in such squalor and dirty surroundings but I knew that every action could breed a reaction. These were the fruits of his in some way, “I am so happy to see you.” He was in chains that restricted his movements. He was in an oubliette of sorts and the floor was dirt and he only had this plastic bucket to relieve himself. No water. I was scared he would get really sick. “Don’t worry my hands are clean, I washed them with the last bit of water I had.” He caressed my face, “You are as devastatingly beautiful as you always were. Oh, dear Riki.”

 

“Iason.” I just said his name.  I was in the house of a new rich guy who used to be a Ceresin. He was the same guy I saw slapping around Iason at the pet party a few days ago. It seemed he had some immigrant, Earthian friends he was trying to impress by getting the former highest of the high sucking his toes. I didn’t know what to say or do. Everything felt numb aside his touch. I thought I would shirk away and unpleasant memories would come forth. But seeing how messed up he was looking and how weak he was I think I remembered the time he was changing and we were in Apatia. When our lines blurred and he seemed happier than I ever seen him, just staying with me. Sometimes, he would refrain making love with me, then it was that, and just ask me how my day was. Seeing I missed Bison would sometimes confuse him but he seemed to wanna sympathise a bit. Then he wanted to cuddle with me or read to me. It felt weird but he once bought a book, I think it was a small story, called _The Overcoat_ and read it to me. I had replied that maybe Gogol was saying that people of different classes shouldn’t mix and that he, my overcoat, is gonna be lost on me forever. Then he had replied that he ironically thought I was his overcoat and thought the same thing. We had both looked at each other and laughed. That was one happy day.

 

He caressed my face, “You are always so beautiful. Your heart…” he trailed my chest and my breath got sharp, “Is still these wires of ancient Ambrosia. Forever, a deluge of empathy and defiance. Forever, pulsing with the nectar of something unknown yet so powerful and potent.”

 

“I don’t know how to get you out of here yet.” I mumbled and held his hand away, “Don’t go being poetic with me, it won’t serve you any good. I am useless to you right now.” I had to look away.

 

Suddenly, I felt a powerful surge, like it was an impetuous impulse of strength, “You think I just said that for something?! I said it because I meant it!” Iason screamed as he gripped me and then started coughing and I had to grab him as he was almost falling down.

 

“Iason, I really am sorry.”

 

“Now I know why you were defiant all this time.” And in his eyes, I saw my look being mirrored, “You hated the pity. The condescension. Hmph, you are truly in my shoes now.” Then he smiled warmly, “You could be one of the Blondies and more. You have the mettle and stamina and behaviour for it that is for sure.”

 

“I see what I can…” I said quietly, he was still in my arms. But, then he got up. It was like as if he was trying to _impress_ me with his strength and attention…but he was tired and weak as fuck and his eyes looked swollen and red like he was drugged or also lacked sleep. “Do. This is worse than the slums.”

 

“Hehehe I have become more mongrel than you ever were.” Iason laughed all of a sudden, loudly like a maniac and for a moment I was afraid guards would come to subdue him or take him away like they did Orphe Zavi — however, he suddenly stopped. Then I heard the sobbing.

 

“Iason.” It seemed I was useless. I could only mouth his name. But, then I held him. And, Iason cried on me. He held me and cried. He held me close and bawled like a baby. I stroked his hair and I felt completely devastated. I had never wanted Iason to face this; not entirely. It seemed he had had enough punishment. This had to stop.

 

“In one way I am glad this happened.” After five whole minutes, when he was cried out for a while, he smiled at me, “Now, I know how you feel. Now, I deserve you.”

 

In one rush, I didn’t stop it, I guess I was waiting a bit, or I would have done it myself, he kissed me. Open mouthed. Hard and deep. Careless and carefree. We closed our eyes. His tongue was like a bookmark that read my mouth and mine was his as well. We tongued each other. He slowly, by instinct and memory, grabbed softly my pants and stroked. I moaned a bit in some protest. This couldn’t go too far already. I grabbed his hand and for once I pushed him against the wall; his hands over his head. My grip strong and he looked amused but he blinked and smiled.

 

“Look, I can’t get involved with you, especially not in this shithole.” I looked at his pet’s uniform, all red and garish and that thong really caught up in his ass.

 

“What do you suggest?” he asked me playfully, eagerly, and he kissed my neck making me breath hard and softly nibbled my ears, and took in my breath. I had to take in his as well. It felt like centuries and it was in a way with the layers, the sediments of history between us — being rejuvenated by a phoenix breath we did not know we had.

 

“First,” I looked at him again, “I will that ass-wipe that you be given proper food and lodgings. If I stay over it may cause a ruckus and frankly I can’t really make love with you when you look like you are gonna vomit or get knocked out unconscious.” I did give him a knowing stare because mating was all ablaze in his eyes, “Look, Iason,” my voice was gentler now, “We are two different people. We aren’t the same anymore. I don’t think we can have a relationship anymore, at least, not like that.”

 

Iason softly tugged on my hair, “I have waited…for you…don’t…don’t say stupid shit Riki…” As expected he looked angry. I tugged his hair too a bit back and made him look up a bit, away from me as he was definitely taller.

 

“Look Iason…” I was being nice, “I can’t just go back to fucking around with you. I been to Earth. I almost like an honourer Earthian and things have changed. I have grown up.”

 

“Have you outgrown me too?” He said this so lowly, like a whimper. I did not know what bruised more. His ego or mine, or the fact that what he said might be true? But I think it was more than his ego and that was really strongly there. It was like he wanted me to need and want him. That age-old desire was always within him. Even now. I felt kinda overwhelmed but also touched. Even in this hell he wanted to burn with me because then we would burn away Hell and make paradise appear: that’s how he looked at it, how he looked at our love. I was mesmerised when I came upon this. Even as a pet, even when he had fallen to the abyss and saw its core, at the amorphous floor of it he looked up or sideways or down and saw me swimming with him either lower or higher. I was the face that made him feel like any abyss could be a contradiction. That is how he always profess his love to me. That I made him feel like being a Blondie mattered. I made it bearable for him. Because there was not extraordinary about him, he actually once said that to me, because he was just manufactured goods and with me it felt he was human and more. He softly smiled. It was like I reaffirmed his beliefs.

 

I sobbed, his love was still like that old one, I did not know if I could return it but I was ashamed to think he could lose it so easily, obviously I knew he had it but he still felt his love was the only high thing about him, “Look,” my tears came and he fingered them away slowly, he even took one tear on his mouth, swallowed the droplet as in licked it, then he licked my eyes and kissed them, breathed in, “I haven’t outgrown you. You aren’t some pair of pants, okay. You know I don’t fucking treat you like that. But, this is serious Iason. I can’t endanger you and myself by doing anything so suddenly. Also, I do feel we aren’t really ready for a relationship.”

 

“Then,” he kissed my mouth again, I had to allow him, I wouldn’t say I hated it, it just felt like a memory that should belong to the past but I opened my mouth and we danced in tongues again, I guess I didn’t have the heart to deny him, also, I wanted to show him I cared and if a kiss worked, I am all for it, “I just have to work hard to gain you back. Now, through the better ways of courting you. Hmm, it is karma, I am kinda excited.” He said as we broke apart.

 

“Of, what?” I almost looked nervous and he had laughter in his eyes but then I looked annoyed so he smiled and kissed my forehead.

 

“Of being your pet why of course.”

 

“Iason, this isn’t a game or a joke. I ain’t some fucking pervert like you. I don’t like these slave and master games unless they have a place and they are consensual to a fault.” I let him rub my fair and saw his face change from being weak to enlivened joy as he breathed in my hair and tussled it and kissed my ears again, “I mean I was never good at the pet thing, what makes you think I would be good at the master thing?”

 

“You are a leader, born and borne for it.” He looked seriously when he said that, then he smiled, “Also, you mastered me in Apatia. I think you always were a bit of a master ever since Ceres. I was scared to admit it and you didn’t give a fuck.”

 

“Still.” I just sighed, “I wanna be careful.”

 

“I will woo you,” he kissed my neck again, “You will see. It will be ingrained into your bones and marrow that you can be my master and master me. We are both alpha. I love it. I dealt with it when I realised it. You were never a pet. You were always something more than that station. You are my love Riki the Dark, dominant of Ceres, we are the North and South. We are meant to be the start points and end points of the compass of love and desire. We are destined. I am yours and you are mine. I would gladly wear a collar and flirt by your feet. And, I know you would do the same.”

 

“Iason.” I smiled at him, “Get some sleep okay, we can talk about this later.”

 

He sighed and kissed me again, I think he sensed I was leaving, we lodged tongues again and he tongued my teeth memorising my mouth, taking it in all over again, “I look forward to our next date.”

 

“Is this a fucking date?” I looked at him in horror, “You have a cut on your nose, your face has scratches and you are wearing a dirty thong. What kind of date is this?”

 

“When he first met in Ceres,” Iason chuckled, “I was malicious enough to make you cry. Take this as payment back. My debt overdue has now been paid in full.”

 

“That’s not funny Iason.” I chastised him with my worried eyes, “Eat something okay. Be well. I am gonna come back soon.”

 

“As I said.” Iason smiled, “We will meet soon Riki the Dark.”

 

“Actually, I have a last name now it’s Celt.” I looked amused.

 

“Riki Celt.” His tongue said it, tasted it, “Sounds like the same sugar with some chocolate sprinkled on it.”

 

We not each other goodbye. I didn’t wanna leave him in filth but I had no choice at the moment.

 

“So, you that Pitbull fuck of hot crack huh.” Iason’s owner came up, “I heard you shagged this guy before, I gotta say he gives good head.”

 

I grabbed him and pushed him against the wall and he yelped, “Listen here fuck face! Iason Mink will be given his own room, good food and all the necessities you fuck all ministers get! He is the high tier Blondie and I won’t stand him being treated like filth because frankly it’s unimaginative, boring as fuck like I bet you are like that in bed!” The last statement made him red, “If I see him next time, which is soon, in that shithole I am gonna disembowel you! And I am fucking Riki the Dark! People need me not you! You understand that fuck face or do you need to choke on my dick in your mouth to help you better understand what I said!”

 

“Alright, Alright!” he struggled, “I will treat him well I mean it!” he choked as I had his neck, “Just…” he was struggling, “Lemme —“

 

I let him go. He coughed. But I kicked him in his stomach. Hard. Just to hone it in. he was coughing and almost vomiting on the floor.

 

Good, if someone can mess with Iason, usually just teasing his head and making him annoyed, it had to be me not these lame dicks.

 

I was still like a friend. If not a lover.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“The dinner afterwards did become annoying.” I looked at him, “Please tell me you didn’t come to fuck around with me.”

 

“I am sorry if that’s what you wanna know and hear.” Aisha blinked, “I am.”

 

“You look tired.” I noticed that he didn’t necessarily look rested. Though he was still recuperating from his lack of food and rest he just looked tired today.

 

“I…” he absentmindedly stroked his arm, “I didn’t like sleeping in my room _alone_ for two days.”

 

“Well, I didn’t like punching you either but such is life I am afraid.” I was rude but hey I was pretty mad at him.

 

“Shall I go then?”

 

I looked at him. He was shivering a bit. I guess he felt cold. Either due to the atmosphere or his own internal body felt cold. I could easily tell him to leave and he, as both the lower in the current hierarchy and as a Blondie, would probably just accept me telling him to sod off. But, I didn’t feel like it. I guess I am not good at telling Blondies to fuck off anyway. I kinda laugh inside. Truth is, he seemed so sad and alone. I just couldn’t bear it. It actually hurt me.

 

“Aisha.” I say this quietly, “Do you wanna come over?” I say it though I know he wants to, I just wanna hear it. “I mean, I’d like it as well.” I am not above saying it. I think we already have enough ways we cannot say things out of fear of disposal or losing rank.

 

I don’t think I noticed how quick Blondies could be in undressing — or, rather I forgot Iason doing it — and before I could feel scared or panic at the thoughts of life as an ex-pet I see the luscious legs and the beautiful chest of Aisha Rosen. Though his ribs jutted out a bit, even their grooves and curves had a beauty I could never forget, some tight muscles on his abdomen, the strength of his lithe thighs, the soft textured faint glow skin sashaying with that long silky blonde tresses and the half mauve and midnight blue lipstick was a sight fit for some photo gallery. The skin ripped with breath, was lighter than my own, the nipples pink, soft pink, a faint blush like the cheeks that slightly go red. His sex, though not active, had good length. Around 3 inches it seemed without being nudged awake; not bad for an inactive one. The pinkness of his foreskin was a bit darker than his nipples. He came closer to me with his quick and fluid movements and just embraced me. His breath and hair close to my neck; he felt like a sequence or a mass of breath and hair, lipstick blue-mauve touching my neck like a fingerprint or lip mark on my glassy pulse of veins. He seemed to be somehow drinking me in. I didn’t know what to feel. I felt anyway. A nervousness I think, or was it arousal? I hadn’t had…sexual intercourse in a while…the thought of doing it with Aisha was suddenly getting my member and guts tingle a bit. To say I was tempted was the least. I wanted to a bit. I felt love in his embrace or what appeared to be love. Understanding a growing love…or an affection.

 

Katze had called him the Unyielding Elite one but it seemed that we both have _yielded_. Yielded — was that the word I should use? I knew no other word and this one felt right. Yielded to what would be a good question. It could not only be the prospect of sex. That would be too basic. And, nothing we were engaging in now was basic. I was nervous. I got a bit suspicious for a while about the nature of his closeness and the fact what he would do with it. He seemed to be reading my thoughts or my body language, or, perhaps neither; just simply he caressed my hair and cuddled closely. He sighed a bit, his breath closer to my neck, then I could feel the tip of tongue and I didn’t recoil immediately and I was wondering if I have should. Though, the tip seemed to have only stuck out for a moment and then it passed. He didn’t look at me and I felt him rather than look at him. I was nervous. I think, from a slight shiver I felt with my arm and hand near his spine, I could feel his nervousness slightly there. I knew that Aisha Rosen may not be a virgin but something about this encounter, this mass of arms and legs, us staying in this position felt like a virginal experience. Even to me. Iason had been demanding, aggressive, at times coolly aloof and though our positionality has changed I didn’t expect the former elite to help me yield and yield himself. Our proximity was strange chemistry. It begot things. I could feel his breath again, now he seemed to blow a bit on my neck. I shiver and trailed my fingers on his spine. He shivered too. Both can play that game, I almost let out a chuckle but when our gaze met then I think both our eyes were laughing. We turned to face each other. I was still in my boxers. Aisha looked down on them. With looking at me and seeing me not shaking my head he slowly tugged at the elastic; hoping, I would buck my hips and slowly allow him to undress me.

 

His assumptions were correct.

 

I don’t mean to resist. I think I should but another thought says I shouldn’t. Why I didn’t know. But, I didn’t wanna question it. Something told me I did know. However, I didn’t wanna ruin this moment with questioning things. All I wanted was to see where it goes and what we can both get and/or learn from it. There is one thing I am certain about. I am scared now. There is a tip of the tongue again, licking a bit longer now, soft stabs of the tongue as I buck my hips and allow him to completely unsheathe my sex. This wasn’t what I had completely planned. I knew something had to be done about Aisha but this was a bit of an expedited outcome. What outcome — still in this process of whatever. I am pretty concerned where an outcome can lead because I well ahead knowing that this will not stop here, whatever this would become, and I am nervous not only because I can’t really name it but because I am not sure about it. I, genuinely, didn’t wanna hurt Aisha’s feelings because despite him being an unyielding, non-empathetic type of person I think he had some feelings of his own, which he couldn’t ignore, invested here. Also, I think this time he wasn’t really only thinking about himself. It scared me to know what he was thinking. How he would be doing things. How would be doing things. Now, my sex was out and Aisha looked at it. My skin colour was fair but light bronze, I had a sheen to it almost like soft caramel, unlike his which was lighter, like alabaster I would say tinged with a light blue not really from his veins (my veins were prominent, caramel mixed with green, blue and purple with freckles of red; Guy loved them, so did Iason) because his body didn’t have any veins showing, unlike mine, he was more or less like one uniform colour with daubs of light purplish-blue glow. I wonder if his symmetry, unexpectedly, motioned to his unyielding status before. I do not think Jupiter completely planned it in his DNA sequencing but it was partly there as the effects of who and what he was. Blondies become unnerving like this. Though, I feel they feel the same way about us. So, here I am again with a Blondie. Though the trajectory was different. It just felt somewhat the same. Ironically, upon reflection I knew Iason had the same curiosity I had when he first had me. What would I be like? Aisha was no different in that prospect. He was eager but he also felt a thrill of fear like me.

 

Aisha looked at my dick nonchalantly. The size unawake was 4 inches. Well, let’s say 4.5 because there was a tingle and it would be fair to omit that out. Aisha just looked at it. His hand on my thigh, slowly trailing up and down; my breath becomes hitched a little and his had become raspy when he got my consent to open my boxers. His eyes now gazed at me widely; I do not know how to discern his emotions, was it affection? I could feel his face getting closer, his nose touches mine, that small union make us both shiver. I can feel it with my hand on his spine and he reads it on my thigh. Both our chest expands, hitching of breaths. I could see want now, in his eyes, real, untainted want. I am confused by it. I thought most Blondies aside Iason would find me deplorable. Though I feel I had already deduced after all the events, that what I had been taught was wrong, in Guardian, in Midas, in Ceres, in Tanagura and definitely Eos. No matter how high a person was they could still be intimidated. I intimidated Blondies. I wasn’t easily categorical to them and I think many people realise you couldn’t categorise people based only on their desires. It was true that when I was shown the dreams and wants of the Bison members including Kirie I was shocked. It didn’t occur to me that I had such a sexual magnetism that all of them wanted me and were a bit jealous of Guy for having me. In Earth, I came to accept it as a blessing. Maybe, God somewhere knew what he was doing when he gave me this sexual prowess. It served me well in the sense Bison had listened to me. I realised it was only natural what they wanted. They saw me as leader material. My charisma was both strong but no so aggressive that it makes them intimidated or made them feel scared. It made them feel protected and wanted. What I did for them, without knowing, was make them feel valuable so their attraction to me was to make me feel valuable. Right now, at this moment, Aisha was feeling partly the same. He proved my point. The Blondies were afraid of falling and feeling like the lowest of the low. All of them may have developed a taste of me in their own ways but would never admit it. Only Aisha seemed brave enough to do that. Only Aisha didn’t seem to care about that class distinction anymore. Yes, he still had his pride as a person and his dignity as a Blondie. He just didn’t wanna censor what he could feel and what he felt he truly was meant to feel. Unlike me, I was being less brave than him. I think I wasn’t being so strong as him. I wanted to thank him but maybe this didn’t seem like a good time to do it.

 

“Aisha…” I started looking at his wide eyes, “Aisha, I…listen…” I was struggling and his mouth took a tug of concern, “I have been told to have sex with you. I know you already guessed that or knew that seeing you have high intelligence and you already may have thought about the benefits of it. I can’t begrudge you that because that is only natural. But, I just don’t wanna have sex because I have been told to. Or, I have to. It feels like we are both pets told to please someone.”

 

“You are not a pet; you are a master.” Aisha suddenly said casually, “I will respect any decision you make.” This was said in a more common stoic manner, like his unyielding attribute was showing again. “But…” this look was intense, “I have calculated the benefits of sleeping with you; there are many. Adversely, there are none. I am okay with either route. I have somewhat resigned myself to it. I cannot say it is a permanent resignation. I may feel differently later on. But, you seem like a decent human being. I am counting on your sympathy and empathy to help my future course.” This was true, though I was kinda annoyed, it showed but he smiled at me, his smile was honest and bright, it broke my chagrin and I had to slightly smile too, I don’t think I ever saw a Blondie smile like this before, so full of purity, even hope. It was breathtakingly beautiful; probably, it wasn’t just a Blondie thing, it was just a human thing, “However, right now…” his grip on my thigh was firmer, even if it took away no gentleness, “I wanna fuck you and be fucked by you. I wanna make love, gentle, rough, deep and dainty. I want both of us to be spent. To know we can be. I just wanna be with you in this way now. I don’t care what others said for you to do and what others would say because they can say all they like to dictate this arrangement. But you are very intelligent too. You have already figured out what you want and I am sure you are going to follow it through. I am not saying this to butter you. I have seen you. There is something really beautiful about you. You are such a good human being that it annoys me but also pains me that you must deal with crap. I wanna help you. I don’t care being your pet if it makes I can help you and be with you. Stay with you and just know you. I think I can be pleased with it if not thoroughly content or happy. That is my truth.”

 

My other hand cupped his right cheek, I tilted to face him more, “I don’t want you to be a pet.” I confessed, “I just want you to be you. And, me be me.” I almost looked away shyly, “I think I don’t mind this. If you want. But, I will feel bad. I mean it was advised and suggested to me. I don’t want this to be some weird ass political statement.”

 

“Look at it this way,” he caressed my face, cupped it with his free hand too, “We are killing two birds with one stone. It will be good. You don’t have to mention it if no one doesn’t ask, no one needs to know how it happened. We just can do this and it will be our own thing. I know I want you. You want me, too right?” The last part was shadowed by a concern. I think he was debilitating if I would remind him too much of Iason and would back out or remember what had happened to me.

 

I breathed in deep, closed my eyes, opened them with a smile that made Aisha look at me dazed, half-hooded eyes, “Of course, I do. I would be lying if I don’t.”

 

“Then.” Aisha smiled.

 

I think it was enough of talking. Doing was beginning.

 

My eyes became half-hooded too.

 

I think he rushed first to kiss me slowly on my lips, then a soft sucking on my neck, making me moan and continuing a kiss, open mouthed this time. We drank in each other, our lips biting and sucking, tongues all erect and wet at the actions of us sucking in air and then sucking on each. I couldn’t contain myself with only kissing. I went to his nipples and kissed each one and sucked on one making him cry out. I was on top of him. Felt his dick rubbing on my thigh, brushing against mine, making me go from semi-harness to full on attention. Aisha was still breathing in and out as I sucked on each of his nipples. He grabbed my hair and bit my ears making me stop at times from tenderly licking or sucking his nipples. I did give some hard bites here and there at times. I wanted a tempo and he seemed to love in it too.  His hair, long and blonde, roped against my darker mane and my body, my earlobes he blew on and sucked and then went to the top of my ears. I could feel his smile. His excitement and I am sure he could feel mine. I sucked on his ribs, palmed where there was bone protruding and kissed on the sheathe of skin. His eyes closed and seemed to half-roll as I did that. I kissed a nipple and went to his right hip, kissing it and teething the skin, hoping some fat would come there to teeth and pinch. I could feel his breath raspy and aggressive as he bit my right shoulder sucked on it, went for my neck teethed it, the left side then went for the middle swallowing my pulse and the long skin of my neck and biting hard on one of my collarbones making me dizzy and also rolling my eyes. I had to stop then I went forward in sucking on his small muscles on his mid-abdomen, licking in circles around his pre-naval, then naval, now I was down so Aisha could only grip my hair and thumb my ears and neck. I locked at his hard sex that had been rushing at me, hoping to stab me too, at all this arousal.

 

“Me?” I gave a position in my eyes. He nodded.

 

Of course, I think it would go both ways. I engulfed his dick into my mouth and Aisha just moaned out loud as I sucked it. I sucked it in rhythms.  Then licked its sides, he had veins there which I kissed and blew on, mouthed on and he was just moaning and gripping my hair so hard that I felt and odd mixture of pleasure and pain. I licked his balls, kissed his tip, then sucked on one ball and my hand encircled his dick and pumped for a few minutes, with him moaning and bucking his hips a bit, then swallowed his tip, encased his length whole, pinched softly his balls, kissed his inner thigh. Kissed his length and swallowed a ball again going on to swallow his dick. All of these motions made him lose himself. In a sequence of moans Aisha let out a few pre-cum and while he wanted to move away, I held him on and winked. That seemed to make him lose it. In a few moments, his hips were moving up and down, he was crying out, I even glanced him bite his mouth and then he his cum came in my mouth and I just swallowed. I got up and saw that he was also teary and I let my tongue hand and saliva and remnants of cum pooled on his face and he opened his mouth to receive it a while later and then tugged on my tongue with his mouth and we kissed deep. He was now playing with my nipples and he seemed happy when I moaned into his mouth here and there.

 

Now, we switched positions. He was on top and he swiftly, with really amazing speed, went down and swallowed my cock whole. My dick was now jetting out pre-cum and he seemed to lick them to the top and swallow my cock again and then swallow my balls and then just go up and down on my cock with his mouth, his hands pinching balls lightly but the rhythm he sucked. He sucked in slow, ministering pulls and each time he did fucking that…with a pinch on my balls my entire body hitched and I let out a moan here and there. He was good at this too. His mouth stopped for a while and kissed and teethed the base of my member. Then he used his index finger to rub there and the adjoining skin of my dick making me writhe. He sucked on my base then he sucked and licked my foreskin and I see this mad look of excitement in his eyes and kissed my member hole and thrust his tongue in there a couple of times making me palm his hair and even yank it a bit. Fuck, this guy knew what to do to me. He teethed my tip and mid a bit more then just swallowed my cock again. Up and down and up and down and I fisted his hair and I looked at him and he nodded and soon he too ate my cum out. Then he moved up, I saw his mouth was still kinda full and kissed me, saliva and cum came out from the side of our mouths and swallowed him and myself eagerly.

 

Then Aisha just lifted himself a bit. I had taken his consent with “me” before so he slowly, biting my lip, with a weird smile on his face, just slowly put himself down. I gasped so did he. The tightness was throbbing. He was pulling himself inch by inch down, stopping only to moan out. Then my dick was fully in. He bit the tip of his index finger, naughtily, and then just started his up and down movements and he took a nice pull at each other as I also moved my body here and there to assist him. We kissed and we both the laughing in our eyes. It was so long for each of us to have a union like this. We were both in control. We loved it that we respected each other. He loved in and out, drawing out at times, my hips followed and I held him at times when I wanted to move faster and he bit his lip each time we did that. Then he also pushed on me when he wanted to feel his cock deeper or faster here and out. Soon, I could feel my body twisting and I was so afraid I looked up but Aisha looked like he wanted me to. So, in a few moments, with Aisha coming out pre-cum I was putting all of it inside him. Aisha in a moment came too and it was on my navel. I think we both were crying a bit. The aftereffects of it getting both of us.  

 

We stayed still for a while. Both kinda tired. I then slowly got him out and got on top of him. We were just kissing now. We both bit each other’s shoulders. Sucked on each other’s collarbones. Then I nodded and Aisha slowly pushed himself and I just gave out a yell as I felt his thickness. Aisha moved in and out and was smiling and bit my lips and also got down and up. I loved feeling him in me too. I licked my lips and kissed him as I rode him. Then he slowly stopped and got on top of me and entered again and started moving fast, slow, hard then deep or light and if I moved my hips or wanted him to go a certain way I did as before. We both laughed too in middle of it and kissed each other. Then with my nod Aisha came too, completely, never moving away. His teeth gritting, his eyes fluttering, I looked hood eyed and then we kissed.

 

Then we both were each other’s sides. Aisha was just grinning and beaming, “Riki, that was so amazing. That was so perfect.”

 

“Yeah it was, Aisha, thank you, that was just so thrilling.” I felt exhausted and I felt he did too. I smiled and grinned brightly too and we kissed each other on the lips, on the corner of our lips and then our foreheads.

 

“I should be thanking you,” he caressed my face, “Oh Riki, I think that is the best I ever fucking had. You are such a kind and wonderful lover. Who the fuck can resist you? I think no one.”

 

“You are too beautiful too.” I said, “Thank you, you too you know, that is like a best for me too, you have such wonderful expressions, damn, you’re irresistible. Look who is talking I am surprised people are not mauling you.”

 

We both embraced each other, “You make eternity seem reachable. I never knew that feeling, Thank you. It’s as beautiful as you.”

 

“You make me feel so right again, thank you, you make me feel like me. Like the planets are aligned.” I rubbed my nose on his and he did the same.

 

I think we slept asleep.

 

I didn’t dream. I didn’t need too. A dream was here and we both were living it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Velevay was so inspired by Aisha Rosen I decided you know what fuck it let it be Aisha Rosen because at that time I didn't know his name. Oh yeah, in the new OVA Jupiter is more guy like anyway so kinda wanna make him a guy not a girl. I hope you enjoyed all of that. Ohhhh Riki and Aisha totally did it! What is Iason gonna say about that!? Stay tuned! Please gimme reviews! One of the reasons I updated is because of your nice reviews ;)


	3. The Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your reviews made me SO HAPPY! I started working on the next chapter immediately! And, I was able to finish and now it's here! HOpe you guys enjoy

 

 

**The Debut**

 

“You know I told Guy a long time ago that there are loves in this world that are hard to understand or even accept; but, they can only be reciprocated in ta particular way. What I said was only half-true because if there are loves that can only be reciprocated in that way where one has to be a ‘master’ or a ‘pet’ then there is bound to be actions adverse to that and if one category or the other found that other ways to be in love together. I think the master and pet situation was situational and both you and Iason got it. When you goaded on Guy telling him you liked what Iason did, you weren’t lying but you weren’t telling the truth. You didn’t tell him that Bison was somewhat in trouble, you didn’t completely mention that you had some times with Iason in Apatia and that you may have really liked the sex. Adversely, Iason was never understanding that maybe you were not really loving everything; the sex was like narcotic, you got dependent on it because it helped lessen your depression. I think he was in denial, that Iason. He was so madly in love with you he should have remembered that madness can blind people more than people having their eyes got out in Ranaya Uugo. Then again, I think that only showed that the Blondies were more human than you and I knew. Because they were so designed to exhibit what we could call ‘greatness’ their mistakes were great too. I suppose I can understand why you feel annoyed by him. Though, your compassion is something to be expected.”

 

“Heh, you are really trying to appease my anger aren’t you, Katze?”

 

“I am not above admitting when I am wrong.” Katze had a leisurely look, frankly he usually looked pretty calm which made me get a bit annoyed at him, now, he seemed more relaxed than usual, his cigarette was in the ashtray next to the side table that occupied this large drawing room in Kirie’s house. This is one of the three or four drawing rooms he had. In fact, this large drawing room, was like a 20x20 space and I think that counted for something. There were many leather chairs around, synthetic fur and real fur (there were cows here in Amoi that grew fuzz like fur) carpets and small coffee tables here and there. The wood looked rich bronze and polished to perfection. The room’s light module was now on the “twilight fauna” setting which created the ambience of twilight and that soft tint of clouds and sun. Outside, I think dusk would be around soon but we had kept some of the windows closed. There was one window that lead to an outside veranda; I was planning of having tea there and looking at some personal mail I have received from Earth. The weather channel had boasted that the twin moons would appear tonight again and that soft breeze is coming from the location of Dana Bahn; ironic that place would be a source of twilight comfort. “Well,” Katze took back his cigarette in his mouth and seemingly teased in his mouth playfully; if I didn’t know better I would call that flirtatious, “To the right kind of people.”

 

I frowned, “Heh, you pretty much lectured me in the car all the way to show that I was wrong in being nice to Aisha but…” I look at him mad, “Do you really want me to treat Aisha the way that Enif is treating Orphe Zavi?”

 

“I never said that!” Now, he looked mad and frankly Katze never gets mad so I felt a bit confused, intimidated but mostly didn’t want unnecessary conflict. Though, I was not going to back down however this goes, “Do you really think I am pretty happy how Orphe Zavi is being treated?”

 

“Aren’t you?”

 

“Don’t test me Riki.” He looked mad and stubbed out his cigarette even before it was half finished, “I mean seriously what do you want me to say sorry? I bet you wanted Aisha to say sorry too, didn’t you?”

 

“What does that supposed to mean?” I looked at him intently, a glare somewhere hidden behind my teeth.

 

“You say you understand us then you want us to apologise.” Katze looked me dead in the eye, “Either you feel you are too special that’s why you need the apologies or hearing them makes you feel better.”

 

I was a bit surprised. Maybe, he wasn’t far off, “Look, I…” nervousness plastered all over me, “I get it you’re mad and maybe I am mad too. But, you can’t tell me it was okay. You know it was somewhat counterintuitive to what you were suggesting.” I looked on, a nervous a bit, truth was I didn’t want a fight with either Katze or Kirie, I knew they were friends, they were my family and I didn’t want my actions to be a disaster especially when it was not a big deal. Yes, he hid stuff from me but he may have his reasons, besides if I got angry for no reason, it would be too stupid.

 

“Look, I am sorry.” Katze raised his hands up, I did the same gave an apologetic nod which he accepted; turning to light another cigarette, “The way you were acting with Aisha I just didn’t know if I should tell you about Orphe or other Blondies. I am not saying I agree with what is happening with them but many of them are pretty much enemies to the revolution. I mean aside execution and hard labour they had no other recourse in the matter. I mean, the Galactic Commonwealth would need time to accept them even as peons again. This isn’t a game though it seemingly is structured as one. I can’t have too much sympathy or empathy on the plate; or, too much perversion and violence, it’s a weird tip of the scales. We are lucky that unlike Earth revolutions we are not having so much torture, rapes, murders, mutilations and the sorts. Revolutions can be messy too; you think even I didn’t get assaulted by some of the ‘finer officers’ it happens and though I don’t wanna just accept it as it came I feel I need to move away from it. It’s the only way I can somehow lead. Many of the ministers in Amoi are pretty much useless without some goals. We need to make them effective because the right to vote leaders is still being shaped…we decided to go with a Prime Minister cabinet with one Digamma Prime Minister, five Orion Prime Ministers, 12 ministers and then 20 officials in other tiers of work. To implement this type of government, we need more stability. Seven years isn’t enough Riki. Right now, Kirie is designated as the Alpha Prime Minister. —“

 

“Wow,” I was such a fool I had not asked Kirie what sort of minister he was and what was the new government system in place, he was basically top dog now, this was really a long way from Bison or anything he could have dreamed about or even I could conceive, “He is the acting Digamma Prime Minister?”

 

“Yeah, I know you are still somewhat new but Riki you should see more media and read the papers,” I frowned and sighed nodding at my blunder while he chuckled as though he wanted to hug me, “But, I guess the presidential home is supposed to be bigger than this. It is being made, not that construction should have taken long but we were under some impediment as some of our funds had to be used for some other ventures; like stopping Ranaya Uugo from expanding. After the first days of the revolution’s victory there was still chaos and people tried to use that to their perverse advantage by sex trafficking, we were able to stop that and send survivors to be treated immediately in the top of the line hospitals. Now, Ranaya Uugo is no longer the limelight of nefarious activities though it exists and is smaller now. The revolution also helped NGOs and Sentient Life Rights organisation to attack Ranaya Uugo and bring forth outer world people who funded it to light. Needless to say, careers were destroyed and some suicides did happen. Some people just kept on moving but knew their time in power were clearly over.

 

After all Jupiter databanks was a rich, uncensored source of information. Like an expert bookkeeper he had kept most of the transactional things that people did divided them by sections and numbers like a good computer. Oh, yes, he had security for it as well…” Answering when my mouth opened and he deduced what question I was going to ask him, “There were complex set of ‘games’ that worked as his security. Basically, the security used a mathematical principle called Zeno’s Behaviour. There were transfinite pieces of chess boards all piled up playing chess, each game had a victor and a loser and the security meant the chess games on each distinctive board will be kept on playing. This allows that if any board is disrupted individually it either realigns its space and starts game again to a default computation or it generates a checkmate move to get you out of the system. Of course, the only way to cause the system to implode is to cause a domino effect that reaches all the games and makes them fold: you can’t break the chess pieces as they would obliterate data.

 

Also, the attack on the set had to simultaneous so advanced computers of the Galactic Commonwealth and people just helped the domino effect. First, the domino effect could be caused if the games being played had a function change but to do this you did to take each quadrant or chess board and make sure that each side does the impossible: get checkmate on each side, to do that you also had to change the behaviour of the chess board, you either had to trick one chess board to believe a game has ended and not reset its pieces allowing a check to happen or slow or speed down its game to make it make a false move making both sides had a check. Now, you had to do this in all the quadrants. So, to this you needed to study the games of chess which moved pretty fast anyone and were reset in a reframing time of around 5 seconds so there was trial and error involved but as to make sure that the system lockdown don’t shut us out or causes the materiality of the other game to change we made pockets of glitches that were like small computer virus that fed pockets of false data to the chess boards as though nothing has gone by using earlier data or predictive data to confuse the other quadrants. After making the trans infinite checkmates the system started to ripple and face distortions due to the domino effect. But, this may cause data distortions so we had also implemented with small pockets matrix spheres that allowed to catch data in finite sequences and bring it over to us to secure data without contamination of neighbouring spills and likewise from its own checkmated self. It took over 3 years to do.”

 

“I can tell you had once hacked Jupiter so you were an indispensable part of this.” I smiled, “And it seems just like Jupiter to use a messy chess board either/or system that would actually make no sense aside to keep decoded data and all that works best in him. Though,” I cocked my head, “Something tells me that the chess board and all of that was an exquisite design of his to make sense of well existential data in general. Wonder if he made a summation of all of those Zeno’s behaviour, like don’t series like Grandis I read have an erstwhile summation which is Cesáro summation?”

 

“Yup.” He smiled, “You seem to become well-read Riki.” I had to blush at this statement and rub my head, “Not that your perception and intelligence were ever in doubt. I knew it. Iason used to admire it,” The latter statement made me look at him directly, “Yes. Iason. You know he always raved about your intelligence. He said you were devastatingly beautiful not only for you disdain and your seeming inability to fawn on anyone but also your lack of stupidity. He said compared to many Blondies you were pretty perceptive and addressed issues accordingly, not sequentially, like there was a difference. You know ironically, Aisha mentioned the same thing to me too, just today morning.” The last statement made me somewhat squirm.

 

I blushed a bit, “He really said, Aisha Rosen said that?”

 

“I take it you guys did it.” Katze looked amused, “And I think Aisha saw the benefits of it. Though, you both seem to be pretty sentimental about it.”

 

“Look, stop this castration by proxy act.” I said it and his eyes grew wide, “You may not have a penis but you surely have feelings. You aren’t some neutered cat or dog though I know you wanna act like it at times. I know you also loved Iason, sometimes like that. Maybe, you were angry at me because he found me more suitable? I know one reason you and Iason felt you couldn’t have a relationship because you had no penis.” I glared at him and he blinked, “That’s bullshit. But I know it was that and more —“

 

“Riki, I will forget you said that.” Katze glared back.

 

“Why?” I smiled cockily.

 

“Because, it isn’t completely right.” Katze stopped glaring, “I may once have had feelings for Iason but I think I started liking someone else. Iason was, is, well a form of friend and an inspiration to me. But, yeah, maybe Iason never approached me because I had no dick. Perhaps, even if I had one he would consider me more of a rival than a lover,” he seeming saw my questioning face, then smiled, “After all I messed around with Jupiter and was able to do something he only dreamed about; if he dreamed about it at all I am sure he did especially after he had you.” Katze winked, I looked a bit smug and blushed, “But even so my affections lie elsewhere now.”

 

“I wonder,” I put a hand on my face, “Where do they lie?” A waiter came in at the moment, he was an ex-slave, but he looked purebred, I looked at him and recognised him but before I call out his name, which was stuck in my throat, he asked us if we need anything and then gave me a strange look of recognition too but properly curtsied out, “Hey,” I looked at the direction of the exit, “Isn’t that Sohya?”

 

“Yup.” Katze smiled, “He isn’t really a waiter. Rather I saved him from disposal so he has decided to become my assistant.” Then he smiled, a bit of a knowing smile. That smile was pretty much a definition.

 

“No way,” I laughed, “Really, Katze, I mean is _he_ around? And, he isn’t your pet, is he?”

 

“No, No.” Katze smiled, “He still kept some aspects of his old job. We need him around and his expertise? Frankly, he looks relieved. He felt Jupiter used to overwork him.”

 

“Really Katze, Gilbert Domina.” I laughed again, “Well, it’s not a far stretch.” I winked, “You guys jurisdiction is almost the same.” Then I looked at him, “Are you two dating?”

 

“I actually proposed and I think he may say ‘yes’ seeing Blondies are genetically altered to look at things with a ferocious opportunism and logic. But,” Katze looked at his cigarette, “I was hoping he likes me too. Though I did ask him because I miss the closeness with Iason? But Iason and Gilbert are so different, in fact Gilbert thinks Iason should have even begged to be reinstated as he was pretty much Jupiter’s fav and best of all Blondies being their leader in a way. Gilbert always have a bit of a bitchy attitude towards Iason. Not saying he is so sad that there is no Jupiter; in fact, he feels it’s fate that he is still working the spy network of Amoi while as he puts it Iason is ‘sucking dicks and cunts and tits and all’ because many Blondies, aside maybe Aisha and Raoul, did not at all like Iason. They were covetous to his position and positionality and somewhat hated him. They did have some of their own qualms with Jupiter too. Whether small or large.”

 

“I am thinking Domina does like you…” I say it a bit sheepishly, “I mean I know I have no evidence but I think Blondies themselves wanna experience things now. I feel you are an experience in your right so there is no way he can say no.”

 

“Like Aisha didn’t” he winked.

 

“Well, I do like Aisha a bit you know that Katze.” I shrugged, “I think he is a nice guy.”

 

“I think he feels safer than Iason?”

 

“Everyone feels safer than Iason…” I groaned and looked at him with playful annoyance, then with seriousness, “I don’t use relationships as placeholders to figure out my feelings for Iason. I know I came to love the non-asshole Iason. And, that is something I accepted. But, Aisha is different. I feel he has potential. Sometimes, I see myself in him.” I blinked, “I used to be unyielding too in many ways. I hated caring too much, maybe Guy saw this and criticised me. I hated caring about Ceres or anything. I see that in Aisha. He doesn’t care, or before he didn’t, because he didn’t see in a point of caring. He thought empathy was weak and saw no value in it. I can’t blame him. I mean caring in a society run by Jupiter may drive you mad and numb. It was better to look at calculations, processes and data revisions to get things done and not think too much outside that centre. He made his feelings peripheral and at times he had none. He was used to having none. I knew this feeling. I fought against it later on and he didn’t. If I was in Aisha’s place I probably be like him. So, now, I feel I have to be with him. I wanna see where this goes. I am starting to care about him a lot. Don’t judge me on it.”

 

Katze looked at his cigarette, almost done so he stubbed it, “Riki. I didn’t know you could make such an analogy between yourself and Aisha. I am kinda impressed.” Katze looked at me then beamed, “I never judged you and I am sorry if I sounded like it. You know I am not like that. I guess I was merely trying out a strategy for political reasons. I feel that I was chasing you away so I apologised. I want you closer friend.”

 

“Don’t say sorry.” I told him, “I feel you were doing your duty, just don’t micromanage,” I winked, “I got this Katze.”

 

“You clearly do.” Katze just looked at me. There was a confidence there now, like he could trust me with more things. I am not completely sure if it was well grounded but I was happy to prove the worth of it being focused on me. Katze looked at me, there seemed to be a question now on his lips, “Iason, you met him? You made sure that Ceresin didn’t hurt him, right?”

 

“Yup.” I nodded. “I was wondering when we could talk about that, Katze. I am worried about him Katze. Can’t he stay here with me and Kirie?”

 

“I think you need to get your own place.” Katze genuinely looked helpless, “There is no way Kirie would allow that guy to stay seeing Iason really messed him up and I am sure he will torture Iason for the fuck of it if he stayed, no he is not gonna be above that and it would be unfair to think he would be seeing Iason wasn’t above it and we think Blondies can be.” The latter part was directed at my wide eyes. Would Kirie do such a thing? Now, that Katze mentioned it there was no reason he wouldn’t. It made sense. I mean Iason did ruin Kirie’s life. It’s funny. Iason sure had the Plague touch with the Midas one. Well, if one knew the story of Midas one knew that he later died of starvation and loneliness seeing he turned his kingdom to gold and people with it. What would be the boon or bruise of the Plague touch? That he fucked up more people and in their vengeance, he will learn humanity? I wouldn’t say that made no sense.

 

Ironically, Midas was named accurately. It was the source of much pleasure and pain like Midas touch was. It is somewhat good it is now Autolycus. There is no reason to separate Eos and Midas anymore and it felt better not too. Though, from what I did see in the news Midasians former were eager to be call just that, Midasians and Eosines were eager to be still be called Eosines. There was much instability between Midasians and Eosines; much contempt on both side. Political forces would use this unrest, both domestic and foreign, to generate favour in their sway if it allowed to fester.  I think it was a good strategy to keep Gilbert Domina as an espionage specialist. After all, Katze had his hands full as he seems to be helping erect the backbone of new Amoi (Kirie was clearly its heart). The only way, I felt, is to keep allowing the Midasians and Eosines their cultural differences but still feeling as whole Autolycate philosophy. I am sure the Midasians and Eosines will find common grounds; though it may be inevitable that some Midasians would bond better with some Eosines than others and vice versa. I had read some papers that the jewellery section in former Midas only do business with high ranking ex-pets for Eos and courtesans of Midas, many who were ex-pets by default of outstaying their age bracket in Eos. The more mercantile prone of Eos, however, were doing well with the actual merchants of Midas. There is also a rift between the artisan classes of Midas and Eos because Eos and Midas artisans, many were very much united. It seemed one percent was not due to old personal wounds from before and also the fact that Eosine theatre was considered less artistic and too sexual by some Midasians. I think there was a minimalism movement of existential flare in Midas now which combined Japanese Noh theatre and Earthian, Western aspects of Beckett. In fact, I am supposed to see a play of one of the them in Autolycus simply called “The Debut.”

 

“I think I will convince Kirie if not I may need to get my own place anyway.” I sighed, “Though, I wasn’t planning to get involved in all these politics and stuff. I know that seemed stupid. I know I am already involved in a lot of things. It just feels like I shouldn’t completely be here. I am not wanting to be the symbol of freedom for the Revolution. I messed up and I did go along with Iason. Our story maybe has some merit but it shouldn’t be hyper imposed on the whole freedom movement and wars because it involved nothing from me and I am not gonna say it did. Also, I am not sure if I am a leader in this or a good leader in this because I mean I just came in after literally much of the action was over. I didn’t do much at all.”

 

“We need you because you do _realise_ all of this.” Katze looked like he was chiding me, “You realise all of this and those are qualities of a good leader. We need your voice to help the veterans be recognised and also to help assure people they have power and that emancipation was not possible without them. When you left, you were glamourized but it is up to you to rub that image off and make a new one which is approachable and real. That is a duty I feel you would be happy to do and know you are the one to do it.”

 

I nodded. He was right. I still struggled to see myself as a great political leader but the fact I need to help people makes me determined.

 

“I still don’t know how long I would stay…” I confessed frankly, “I was supposed to come here as a vacation then Kirie wanted me to also be his advisor. Now,” I cocked my head once again, “Something tells me you want me to run as one of the ministers?”

 

Katze smiled, “I should give you credit Riki. You read me much better than most others.”

 

“It may be a problem if I do that.” I completely understood his position but the tinge of nervousness in his voice seemed to alarm him too, “I am also an Earthian citizen now; I have got the Diamond status card and I have filled up for passports to be naturalised. I also have a place in Ireland somewhat reserved for all of those plans. I don’t think they allow duel citizenships to Ministers nowadays. I know Amoi has become a sort of port planet for Earth but they, both people of Amoi and the Earthians, may see my position as a conflict of interests. This isn’t how I planned on losing my Earth inhabitation.”

 

“Well, it wasn’t so unprecedented in your imaginations right Riki?” Katze looked annoyed now, “I know you had given it some thought. Look, honest truth, we are short staffed of good leader material and the Galactic Commonwealth knows this. A good way to resolve this may be to put the Blondies back in charge but you know the NORMA system relied on Jupiter. This may seem hard to believe but Blondies are kind of unimaginative ruling without their deified head of powers aka Jupiter. Would they take our order is also a question of normal logic? Not to mention, people rather be poor in leadership than allowing their former enemies take over too easily. I am not saying we don’t have potential candidates but right now in this interim style of government we are shorthanded. It is the base reality and I am asking you this also as a favour Riki.” I looked at Katze’s face, a tiredness, an exhaustion there which was recent, “I am juggling too many things so is Kirie and Enif. I know Heracles wouldn’t mind doing some of the job but I think Beethoven and Symphony are also working tirelessly to makes sure the floodgates of Revolution do not allow the kind of narcotics the black market has kept on the minimum to go up. There are a lot of disillusioned beggars in the streets now too: Nile tells me that there are both jobless people from former Eos and Midas. We have to find a right balance between giving immigrants jobs and also these disillusioned people. And, I think you know at least the clash between Midasians and Eosines. That needs to keep under wraps which Kirie and I are constantly working on. Please help a bunch of old friends will ya.”

 

I know I was thinking too much of myself and that it was pretty selfish. But, this was a time for me I felt I could be selfish. When I chose Iason over Bison it wasn’t a self-mediated choice. I was too ashamed to tell them completely what happened and with Iason so invested in me and pulling the strings I knew I couldn’t ever live a peaceful existence anymore. Truth was I never chose one over the other. I think Guy first mistook it as that but I admired him trying to save me. I am glad though I woke up when he was trying to castrate me telling him not to do this that it isn’t pleasure that solely bond me to Iason, it was a kind of duty towards them to and that I did appreciate being loved and liked by Iason because it made things simpler. Guy had not gone through with it and had punched me then and there and doused me again with sleeping gas. Truth was I was interested in Iason for many reasons; one, I did appreciate him wanting me to the point where he was ready to keep the snide and anger of all his colleagues and all of that. That did endear me a bit. But, frankly, I think it was also my fear he would hurt Bison and my own depression that locked me on. It was the pleasure because it helped me forget about other things like what he did to me before and what humiliations I had to face. It’s funny in Apatia it did feel like Iason was trying to become someone different and realise me. He wanted to talk to me, before sex and after. It pained me because I sometimes was not really ready to give him that door. It was admirable how much he tried but it was not admirable he never said sorry. Besides, was there really any danger of well you know being _with_ me with his station? I mean he seemed to still enjoy it.

 

In the end, Iason didn’t do what really mattered. Saying sorry to me and just absolving all this master and pet shit (which he did without saying it out verbally in Apatia) and just running away with me. Why the fuck didn’t he run away with me? To another planet? Was he scared of loving me without one of us being pet or master? This is where he failed for me. And I had to suffer for his failure and so did Guy. All he had to fucking do was say fuck everything here and let’s just run away. And, stick to it. Hell, he wouldn’t be the only one giving up anything. I would be giving up Bison who are basically my family — I am sure he doesn’t treat other Blondies aside Raoul Amm as his family or friend. So, what stopped him? Aside his own greed for control. To say I was out of some of the love with Iason Mink would be an understatement.

 

When he asked me last time if I had outgrown him in some ways I did. I am not so greedy as to abandon my friends now in this crucial time but neither am I stupid to just give up all I have built at Earth.  I am sure Katze looking at me got a little of what I was thinking, “I am not telling you to give up all your hard work on Earth, Riki.” Bingo, “But, we could also use you here to help do some hard work in Amoi. Since, you are a veteran of hard work lend us a hand?”

 

“I can’t outright say fuck off to my friends and family and neither do I intend to.” I smirked, Katze knew how to be a Blondie I think better than many Blondies themselves, only he with his scrupulous methods and cool exterior would like Iason Mink. Both of them were ironically very much alike. I think they had noticed this commonality but the hierarchy had made them mute to speak of it, “But, take in mind. Earth may have always known who I was and they must have been happy I took political asylum on their planet. They wouldn’t be too eager being welcomed back to my own without them having some handle on it.”

 

“That is where I come in.” Katze played with the ashes on the ashtray, nice to see he had that side, “I mean there is no way they can’t naturalise you if I help you make pro-Earth speeches and pro-Galactic Commonwealth ones. Also, count on the Human Rights movements which have evolve to Sentient Life movements more or less to be honoured to have you as an Earthian as well. They will talk about Earth being the cradle of human civilisation and how you being to Earth is akin to a symbolic ‘homecoming’ for the legacy of Abis Think Tank and the legacy of the old Amoiyans or Amoits are now transmitted into the genealogy of the Revolution helped along from the genes of Earth. Very refreshing. Allowing both Earth and Amoi to build good political relationships. We may even be funded by some of the Earth Organisations like ‘Act Amoi’ and ‘Amoit Centrifuge’ and some others from countries in the Americas, Africa and South Asian and Europe. It would be interesting.”

 

“Wouldn’t that go out of hand in my determination to break myself of a symbol for the Revolution?” I asked a bit bored. This political stuff gets complicated fairly fast and easily.

 

“Good question,” Katze smiled and I realised I was asking someone who was a political strategist by nature and had thought like nine or seven moves ahead; Earth may give a spleen to have him on their side, “Truth is no. Rather those organisations would call you humble for eschewing your influence and feel that having a man like you would be completely beneficial to Earth assets. They make still make you a symbol but not as potently as before. As soon as elections for the new government system is passed we can take a bit of a breather.”

 

“You mentioned some people.” I blinked, “Nile, Symphony, Beethoven and then Heracles, who are they?”

 

“Beethoven is an ex-furniture and Symphony used to be a woman in Guardian who left her life of being a fertility princess to help us with the causes of new government. She is also a freedom fighter so when she became minister it was a great relief on Kirie and my shoulders. Nile, she is an ex-pet and pretty much served as a delegate between Eos residents and Midas residents. That art movement by former Midas folk is really getting her pissed and overwhelmed. It is actually something to get overwhelmed by. Eos people are former pets and naturally they may wanna sell sex or things they are good at. We haven’t criminalised prostitution because basically everyone is somewhat proficient at sex on this planet.” We both shared a bit of a laugh, “But we need only a few numbers of them. We don’t want the same shit going down again. But Eosines do wanna be hosts, socialites and artists or merchants. Their genes will make them harder to get educated as many things are unfairly inhibited in them. I know some also want to be scientists. They are actually interested in gardens and food production. But, it is going to be hard to be retrain them. You know we are struggling to make a new education system. Kirie is on it but he admits he is not an expert and to be honest neither am I but Nile and Symphony had shown an aptitude for it and Enif seems pretty interested as well so we are happy we got some passionate people on this amongst us.”

 

“You know people who retained their training from Guardian, Ceres people, they would be glad to help.” I pointed out.

 

Katze blinked, “We did think a little about that but no one is Ceres is pretty confident right now, do you think we should approach them again?”

 

“I think former members of Bison wouldn’t mind helping out.” I looked on, “You know Norris and Max. They are still around though a bit beaten. I think Max may be a good teacher and so can Norris. Norris has the charisma to teach kids. And Max, he may look rough but he is very reliable and honest.”

 

“I will look at them right away.” Katze smiled at me gratefully, like I just saved them somehow, “Of course, they both have to go through teacher’s training but I am glad you mentioned people.”

 

I was thinking of the letters I had to write but also about Iason. “So, about Iason.” I started again, “Shouldn’t I like tale to Kirie about it?”

 

“Maybe later.” Katze advised, “It may cause a conflict that we don’t need right now.”

 

I nodded.

 

Katze looked at me, “You know Heracles who usually does things with Iason. He is an academy purebred and he is a bit of a bastard. Like that Ceresin guy he is a temporary minister. But, I don’t know if we can fully trust him.”

 

“I don’t like him one bit seeing he is taking pleasure in Iason’s expense.” I snarled out.

 

“Well, if you wanna meet Iason now, I heard that Heracles had taken him so I will forward his address to you and don’t worry,” Katze said, getting up, “I am sure he will not say no to Riki the Dark and I heard Heracles has decided to treat him better.” Katze grinned, “No one wants to directly mess with Riki the Dark or Riki Celt.” Then he looked at his watch, “I have to go and meet Gilbert Domina.”

 

“Of course you do.” I winked.

 

He actually blushed and walked out.

 

I asked Thimble if he could get me some green tea and he got me some green mint tea. I took my laptop and just went to the veranda which served like a balcony too. The moons were out and the breeze from Dana Bahn that was to come was in full swing. I shivered a bit but took my mint tea. I used the holo screen to read my emails and then took out three handwritten letters. It was nice paper wasn’t fully out of style though a bit expensive in Amoi and Earth. I smelled the parchment. I had a traditional quill that I bought at a good stationer shop in Ireland.

 

I think I was responding to long emails and the like, I didn’t look at the time. One of them was from a friend. This friend worked at an NGO and had asked me about the Refugee situation in Amoi at the moment and how are the domestic issues between people of the different hierarchies. I told her the Refugee Act allows people asylum without discrimination but that the Galactic Commonwealth must also help us to secure proper funds as we are still recently liberated as we need a better economy to serve people. I explained the Autolycus Immigration Act and then talked about how the Midasians and Eosines are at each other. I told her I haven’t researched on the Platinas, Jades, Rubies, Sapphires and Onyxes yet but I need to and see what happened to most of them as I knew some were either made into slaves or others were actually executed (a sad thing but some of them were more loyal to Jupiter than the Blondies).

 

Another letter was about any new policies, by a friend who studied law, that have come into effect almost immediately aside citizenship rights. I talked about pet rights, emancipation and the breakdown of Ranaya Uugo. I told him more detail about Ranaya Uugo and how it has become a site of much criticism and that new Sentient Life Laws are pretty much trying its best to tear it down and succeeding at a good rate. It may not be completely shut down but each day the digital papers and news seem to update on it in some capacity. Ranaya Life Stories was a new documentary series coming out and I told that we should watch it simultaneously to be better informed.

 

Then I went to my handwritten letters. The third one was all about if I met anyone new and were banging them to infinity. I almost blushed at the thought at the passionate and amazing lovemaking me and Aisha had. I wondered, should I pen it?

 

“Maybe, you should.”

 

I almost jumped out of my seat and looked at Aisha Rosen wearing a blue and red tank top with a lacy but clean black thong. His tank top exposed his beautifully, slender and muscular abdomen and his lithe shape looked perfect in that outfit. Though, he was walking around in that wear? I thought I told him he can wear whatever he liked because well, he wasn’t really a slave though if just for title’s sake.

 

Aisha smiled that luminous smile again, “You are gonna mention me, right? I felt you were thinking if you should.” He cupped my face and suddenly kissed me. Well, I liked him kissing me so I bit down soft on those luscious, coloured lips and heard him moan. I sat back on the chair, probably my accident or intention, couldn’t really say and he straddled my hips and was locked on my lap. He started moving to and fro which was a racy simulation of humping while we pressed our tongues in a twisted cycle in each other’s mouths were moans were exchanged eagerly as the currency to our passions.

 

“What, what are you doing?” I gasped out as he pushed up my shirt and bit on my nipple and grazed his teeth against my chest.

 

“I missed you,” his erection was so thick and vital now against my half-awake groin, I was pretty taken away by his desire, “You haven’t seen me since lunch and breakfast where we locked hands,” Aisha interlaced my fingers and gave soft bites to my lips and necks, “Dammit, why did you have to be away from me?”

 

“I didn’t intend it Aisha I got busy and why do I have to explain in this situation?!” I yelled and yanked his hair a bit, those blonde tendrils and he yelled out too pinching my nipples, “Being too pushy, aren’t you?”  I grinned as I licked his neck, he was like moaning and straddling my hips tighter.

 

“No,” He flashed a very intense gaze and smile, I was spellbound, “I haven’t become pushy, _yet_.” Before I knew it Aisha had unzipped my jeans, to my knees and my light blue boxers and pushed down his own thong and pressed himself down on me. I gasped out at his hungry tightness and the sprung nature of my own sex battling to keep from ejaculating and I was just looking at Aisha biting his lips as he started bouncing up and down. He grunted and growled and twisted with such an assertiveness and aggression that made my eyes rolls back and my dick become imprisoned by his passion, “Missed me, baby?” He kissed me hard, “Oh, Rik-chan, you feel so damn good. I wanna chain you to my bed and ride you both days seven days of the week…” he moaned and I bit his lip. All his talk was just pushing me over the fucking edge!

 

“Aisha!” I suddenly called out, “We are kinda outside…” I just realised that we were in a fucking veranda type balcony!

 

“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone would see us…” he licked my nipples and the wind from Dana Bahn tickled our exposed chests and as I bit his own nipples and licked them as I felt sweat even come from his body. Was that normal for a Blondie? I don’t think Blondies sweat so easily but…I must be getting kinda good…I grinned as we sucked on each other’s lips, grazing teeth and knowing tongues in the most vivid of ways. My teeth caught his tongue while his on a second kiss caught mine and suck. I was getting close.

 

“I wanna chain you too and make you suck my dick and fuck you in all positions and find your dick in me…” I rasped. I knew I was close and Aisha nodded and soon I released himself inside of him.

 

Aisha screamed and rode faster with my ejaculation. Within minutes he also came all over me. I took his cum and tasted it, tongued it, a display which his hazy eyes scanned and then I kissed his hooded eyes and his mouth. “See,” I saw quietly, “I made you see and taste the wonders of your sex.”

 

“Damn, Rik-chan,” him cursing sounded exciting as he throbbed and I saw his dick leak a bit more out that dropped in a disjointed, pearl necklace like fashion on my abdomen, which he put in his mouth and kissed me, “You make me feel proud to have this body you know that. I always was a bit jealous of the more well-built Blondies but you make me feel beautiful. And your skin and your skin tone and all the arrangements of muscles, like a musical piece waited to be played over and over. You are just so gorgeous Riki.”

 

“Look, who’s talking…”   I was panting so hard and he seemed aroused by this and he kissed me again, tongues lapping of saliva and sex. Tongues knowing only the mercury of our arousals being spent and the deliciousness of a climax well received. I almost nodded off. That was intense and I didn’t know if I had it in me to even write a response to that letter. One thing is for sure; I have to mention that I am having great lovemaking sessions with someone really special.

 

“So,” Aisha got up and seemed to get something close by, a towel, so he came prepared, I had to grin; it was nice to be want and be wanted, “Are you going to write a response back soon to that friend?”

 

I nudged in his cheek, “I will try to.” I laughed, “My energy is so gone.”

 

“Nice handwriting.” Aisha said, “I have a good one but Iason Mink was the one of you who wrote frequently on paper. I guess I didn’t always know what to write about.”

 

“I have been practising calligraphy. You know I wasn’t entirely literate.” I said this with some shame. Rubbed my head.

 

“You seem pretty wise to me.” Aisha said after a while as he still was stretched long on top of me.

 

We had to smile and Aisha read the parts of the letter I was writing, telling me some good ways to write some responses. The Dana Bahn breeze was still in tow and the moons appearing and hiding and beyond clouds and reappearing again with a kettle of hot water for the mint tea.

 

Which Aisha also drank out of my cup. Sharing an indirect kiss to punctuate our direct ones.

 

This was bliss. This was life.

 

* * *

 

 

“Did you meet Heracles?”

 

“No, I think he has stepped outside.”

 

“Yes, he has.”

 

Iason rushed towards me and kissed me. He looked a bit well rested and his hair was now not dirty; it shone regally as his hair did. It was still cut off and I have a feeling it was singed and cut off regularly to humiliate him. I touched his locks as I reciprocated his kiss. I didn’t know what else to do or say; my tongue caught his like they were butterflies hovering over the flowering of our mouths. He sank in deeper and the mischievous glint in his eyes was well-read by me — he was trying to simulate sex with this kiss. I equally dabbled on it pressing into him as though I would swallow him in either top or bottom fashion. His eyes closed. Mine were still open and he moaned in my mouth and thumbed my nipples over my shirt, pinching softly, then slowly stroking my manhood over my leather pants.

 

I don’t think we meant to finish the kiss but even air needs to calm down. I did not completely feel right kissing him, seeing I had amazing lovemaking with Aisha just last night. Though, he seemed too happy to see me my heart couldn’t deny him this. He looked like a kid seeing me. Like he wanted to hold me like a sibling, toy, parent, lover — it felt strange but he looked at me now in so many ways I was a bit overwhelmed.

 

While I was in thought, we held each other and Iason was kissing and giving small bites to my face and ear, he put up my tee and kissed my nipples and my abdomen, “God, this beautiful Riki the Dark…” he moaned as he kissed my small sheen of ribs and my naval; bit the arcs of hips that were unsheathed from my pants’ sides. Then he took a deep breath. Then he stopped for a bit. “You smell like Aisha Rosen…” he said this quietly.

 

“Yeah, I do.” I said quietly as well.

 

Our eyes looked knowingly into each other. He grabbed my face firmly not roughly, gave me a kiss, “Is he good? That good?” he whispered it hoarsely, rubbing his crotch against mine.

 

“Yeah, he kinda is.” I moaned a bit, “He really is.” I said this with a straight face. The ambition in my voice and look startled him. I have all power over my desire and he looked both in fear and awe of it. Then he closed his mouth and cocked his head.

 

“So, Aisha Rosen. You like kissing his blue lips?”

 

“Yeah, he tastes sweet but mild and then aftertaste intense.” I stare at him as I say this.

 

“Should I wear lipstick?” he mouthed as he grabbed my lips with his teeth, and I gasped as he sucked and looked happy at my gasp. I did the same thing the one small moment he did let me go and he moaned and closed his eyes.

 

“No. That wouldn’t suit you.”

 

“I don’t mind competition.”

 

He kissed my neck.

 

“Riki, I will fight for you. I will become someone you would proud to be with.” He rustled my hair, smells it, “God, you are sooo damn beautiful. Dammit, now Aisha knows it too. Surely, if he isn’t a stupid fuck he wouldn’t wanna get rid of you anytime soon.”

 

“I am watching a play with Aisha and Kirie you wanna come see it with me?” I just blurted out as he was caressing my body and I could see he had an erection.

 

He looked at me and he just smiled, not grinned slyly, really innocent smile. I was shocked. Could he even smile like that?  “How can you say no, when you just asked me out?” I wanted to protest that I just wanted him to feel better but his smile was pure. I wasn’t gonna ruin that. We looked at each other.

 

Sealing a pleasure with a kiss.

 

* * *

 

 

“I just realised this is the first date proper we are going to have. I am fucking excited; it’s going to be play!”

 

I wasn’t sure if I looked at shock enough. Iason cursing madly like this or the fact that he was super excited to see a play with me. Well, he was treating it as a date. I am not sure if that was possible completely. Though, Aisha was with us and with him I think this was more of a date than with Iason. I felt it was only fair to bring Iason along. Though Aisha was a bit upset I understood he got that Iason would have wanted to come and seeing he was in a shithole all this time a play can be cathartic and rewarding. I was treating it as a therapy for all of us. I suppose we all needed it.

 

“It is more _my_ date than yours.” Aisha actually snarled at Iason Mink. I was surprised that those features could be twisted into such a reaction.

 

“Really?” Iason looked amused though there was a fire lit inside him, I saw it in the crinkling of his nose and the intensity of his eyes, a look that searing more so intense than his anger that I remembered, “Well, excuse me, Unyielding one but who has the past history with Riki the Dark or Riki Celt, me. And, I plan that this present time is also with him and me. Just because he bought his so-called pet along doesn’t mean anything to me. We are here together; to me that is everything.”

 

Aisha eyes reddened; I seriously thought as a vampire, damn, was it Dracula or Camila this beauty was projecting? “You know what, the fact I am his pet while you are the everyone’s to go slut pretty much shows that this isn’t about him and you. You should be even glad that Riki allowed you to come. Your history with him is a sordid affair in which you crushed the very flower that gave you the credible fruits to eat. You are an idiot. I am not.”

 

They just looked like they were about to murder one another. I realised then that without Jupiter around, their parental figure, they absolutely despised one another. I had never understood that Iason had to put up with such hostility especially later on which added up with his involvement with me. They must have been itching to go Lord of the Flies on him. Well, this definitely garners new respect from Iason from me. Though, it makes me respect Aisha too. The fact he had gotten up to speak to someone who was number one just for me was endearing as well. I don’t know if I deserve all of this love, this passion and loyalty but I am sure thankful to God I have it. I have lived pretty much with little notice, aside some sexual and some admiring kind, on Earth. I enjoyed the solitude but I cannot say I am not impressed by the way these two Blondies wanted my attention. In all respects, I was confused, but I wanted theirs as well. I wanted to be there for them too. I could not go to this play without Iason because I was not the only one who defied the old order. It was also him. It seemed wrong to go to Autolycate function without him. Now, I see Aisha also defying everything he had been taught and programmed to believe by standing up to Iason. What is it about us that piss people off? I must have been smiling but they looked at me.

 

“You enjoy me fighting for you, huh?” Iason had desire in his eyes and I had to swallow; though he was emaciated and hurt he looked with such desire for me I was a bit speechless, “No matter Rik-chan; if you want me to fight for you I will gladly oblige.” Iason winked at him.

 

“You, with your bizarre habits and stupid compulsions you would fight for him, brazenly wouldn’t you?” Aisha smirked at me, his desire was also molten. To say I was overwhelmed by them wanting me was a fucking understatement. I don’t think I even felt this strange when I saw Bison want me sexually, “I plan on fighting,” Aisha cupped my face, “If it means I can be your princess and your knight Rik-chan.” Aisha winked and Iason scoffed in fury, “You are the sun and moons of my constellation I will happily float or burn in the space of your axis.”

 

“Uh, okay.” I rubbed my head, blushing, “Please you guys don’t fight, okay? I want to enjoy the play and I hope you guys do as well.” Then with some reluctance I looked at Iason, “You might be too recognisable in the wrong way Iason, even if they have cut your hair and your nose still looks bloody. I want you to,” I brought out the hooded robes, “Wear this and walk quickly through the back and go in amongst us.”

 

Iason nodded and wore the greyish brown robes. Aisha was dressed in a sequined light blue robe that looked a mix between a dress and it had half-pants, going to the knees stitched to it. He looked really beautiful as his long hair was dressed in glitters (I heard Kira and Kakash had helped Ithos and him dress up side by side which was unheard of pets and masters but these were new times; besides I don’t think we truly treated Aisha as a pet). He also wore a silvered feather, like a hawk’s feather, on top of his head. Like some crowning jewel. I could see Iason; still wearing pet clothes of red long pants and short tank top (the sort of clothes I wore when I hung out with Mimea in Eos and when we were not flaunting our stuff at a party) was looking a bit enviously at Aisha Rosen. The tables had turned indeed for once in life I belief even Aisha and other Blondies had looked at Iason with some envy; Aisha had expressed it a couple of times of hated Iason for being Jupiter’s favourite. Now, in the matter of dress Iason was envying Aisha. I didn’t know if to laugh at the irony or genuinely feel really bad. I hope I could get nicer clothes for Iason though it also made me feel that he looked okay in those clothes as I did. I can’t completely forget how he treated me. I guess that is where my dignity comes in.

 

We were walking in the long VIP line. Ithos and Kirie were already there talking to the Press. Katze was too tired and the other ministers also wanted to enjoy time to themselves so it was opening night and Kirie and I were among the officials, even if I was complimentary one to watch the show. Suddenly a reporter rushed at me, “Here in the premiere of ‘The Debut’ which is gotten by Noh Space Artists is our very own hero Riki the Dark!” The reporter’s jubilant exclamation bought on others from different channels, ready to talk to me, “So,” the young man continued, “Is this a movement you support? Is, the Noh Space Artists like many Earth performers? What do you have to say?”

 

I took in a deep breath, I knew what I said here mattered so I had to be careful and vigilant, “Earth has many different kinds of performers. I am not for one movement or the other in the arts because to me that defeats the purpose of arts as a whole. Even if there are some actions and movements many of us don’t support I do believe that the Noh Space Artists should be heard as well. They are trying to do something new and this is one of the first large scale productions that Autolycus has definitely allowed. My presence here is not to dissuade other artists from performing I just feel with the Revolution comes a chance to welcome new modes of thoughts and arts and that is something pretty important. I cannot let an either/or fight start out between artists and theatre because we really need to show support for our domestic industry of the arts when we can and if they do show things tantamount with Revolutionary acts we have done to Amoi till now.”

 

I could feel the sighs of appreciation: I looked up to see both Aisha and Iason looking at me impressed. I wanted to melt into a ball of blush right there. Am I really as great all these people think I am? This will really stroke my ego and get to it. So, I gotta try to curb it. I could only weakly smile at both of them. Iason through his hood was a bit further away and not trying to draw attention. He was doing a good job. I didn’t give him a camouflage warp because security was tight here and if something was detected it would look really bad on all of us. The robes would have to do good for now.

 

“But, what do you think the Eosines will think?” A young woman reporter this time asked, “This Noh Space troupe is an amalgamated mass of Midasians. They have actively decried and ridiculed art and theatre of Eosine influence and culture stating they are brazen, too sexual and called the Eosines a bunch of nymphos on the loose. Do you not believe that the Eosines would believe that your actions here may prove antithetical to their culture and what they believe in?”

 

“Madam.” I say this with sincerity, “Both I, and Minister Kirie and even Lady Ithos, were all residents of Eos one time or another. I think you know that.” She nodded and realised though her question was important my answer was too and it was right there, “Us coming here is also to show the Noh Space Artists that Eosines are not to be grouped together and their discriminatory speeches will not be tolerated. If we find value in the play and its contents, which I know we would even if we have our criticisms, we would be showing their faults. Their group could use the fine acting and fluid techniques of Eosine theatre actors. Eosine people are not only brazen. At the same time, it is pretty liminal to believe that some sexuality and sensuality in art especially theatre is brazen. True, the Eos actors were to be exhibitionists but they too have different types of performances and not all of them exhibitionist in nature. Also, exhibitionist shows are not to be cancelled out of just selective taste of others as long as there is some consent and safety. To critique them as brazen is a speech I hope to change tonight.”

 

That is when I noticed the deep screaming of some people. I think Iason and Aisha noticed it before I did. “It is the Venus movement.” The young reporter explained to me with some concern in her eyes, “They have come to protest the performance on the grounds it makes Eosines look bad. As you can tell, they are mostly made up of Eosines though there are some Midasians amongst their rank too.”

 

I think the choosing of the name “Venus” was crucial as it eliminated Eros which sounded like Eos anyway and Aphrodite which would be tied with aphrodisiac and make their cause seem counterproductive. They had boards on them and posters saying “Sex is life”, “The Art of Sex is indispensable,” “Fuck Noh Space, get it? LOL,” “Eos is not your definition of low culture get out fascists,” and many more signs. I think I approached Iason and Aisha then and we all looked at each other. I think, which is like a miracle, we were all thinking the same thing. “Kinda like Hippie culture back in the 1960s of Earth right, or the 2010’s Hipster culture, only a bit less refined and they eat meat and don’t seem vegan.”  
 

Iason nodded. For a moment, I was really happy, they were acting like their usual selves, like the counsel they were talking about things in detail and rationalising actions. To hear them like that made me happy. “I agree.” I nodded.

 

“I think one of their lot will wanna talk with you.” I figured it out even before Iason said it.

 

One of the protestors, blonde, grey eyed looked at me and Iason and Aisha with contempt, “So, you guys forget everything! We are the denizens of Eos and our flesh paid for your pleasures and now you think you can just get rid of us! You think our art is lewd and who made us do it once? Your hooded guy is a minimalist performance too and your pet Blondie is here and that is an insult to the revolution!”

 

“I am here as a political official who wants to bridge the gap between you and these Midasian performers. I used to a Eosine once myself. I understand your qualms.” I was bit nervous; however, I didn’t let them see it. I wasn’t completely prepared for this: I need to read up more. Kirie, from a distance, was ushering me not to talk to the Venus Protestors but I couldn’t just turn a blind eye on them. Aisha held my hand and Iason rubbed my back in secret. I think they understood how stressful this whole situation.

 

“What if we don’t wanna join these Midas losers? Have you thought about that?” The young blonde boy yelled and he looked livid, I now had all nervousness gone I didn’t like his petulant nature and this was gonna cause strife if I don’t try nipping it in the bud, “You think we wanna be with these Midasians?”

 

“That’s enough out of you!” I got in his face and he looked suddenly very intimated, “Who the fuck you think you are? You, stupid brat! What is your name, huh?”

 

“Why so you can arrest me?” he was shaking in both fear and rage.

 

“I can do that without knowing your name.” I said it casually, I swear I think Iason chuckled under the hood and it made me wanna laugh, even Aisha suppressed his laugh with a cough, “What do you mean you don’t wanna work with the Midasians? The Revolution wasn’t only hatched by you. All types of people in Ceres, Midas, Eos and even Tanagura all fought for it. Are you telling me you don’t wanna be an Autolycate?”

 

The last statement was a risky one and he knew it, “Look, you can’t just tell me to leave Autolycus because I am part of a movement.” He trembled, “I don’t think there is anything great about being an Autolycate. Those Midasians think they are better than us. They have had more resources from before and they plan on capitalising it and giving us like tariffs or something. What have we done? We hadn’t been asked to be born to Eos or be former pets. That was the yardstick life drew for us and before we knew we got the short end of all those sticks we were beaten by that same stick and told to make it our creed. It is not my fault that I used to be a pet and was born in a damn academy. You think this is easy for me? I was trained to be a seducer of customers and suck them off and now after the Revolution I feel happy but also unsure. I don’t know what to do. But, I thought I can a name for myself being an actor or stage performer. And these Midasians, even those that aren’t part of Noh Space, they call me a slut, a less then human filth, some cattle made for sex and they won’t allow us to specialise in the one thing we are good at. It is taking away our dignity. It is punishing. We don’t deserve this. It is not our fault.”

 

I think I got teary, I wiped my face and everyone, Iason, Aisha and even that young man looked surprised. What he said resonated with me. It was truly something that I once said, how I was not in the wrong for being a Ceresin, that it was just my lot in life to be born in the Sector 9 slums. I didn’t feel good bullying this one man, his qualms were reasonable, “Look,” I started with sincerity, “I am here just for that I want Noh Space to not think they are above everyone because their plays seem to be existentialist and all of that. I want them to recognise you guys. This may be important because it may make other Midasians look up and realise they are in the wrong. We will make laws to protect everyone. We need stability. We can’t just let go to of the Autolycate endeavour.”

 

The young man nodded, “You speak from your heart.” Then he smiled, he was pretty beautiful too, looked around nineteen years old, “You are Riki the Dark, aren’t you?” Well, cat’s out of the bag, “I am happy you are one of the people in charge. I am Atticus Bromide.” We shook hands.

 

I knew it was too good to be true. The fact everything was seemingly going well. Suddenly, someone threw a stone and it hit Aisha right on his left forehead. There was a deep gash and even Iason looked alarmed and grabbed Aisha, all animosity forgotten. “Take that you Blondie trash! I am glad to see you are someone’s pet! You deserve to be fucked and filled like the nothing you are! I bet that somewhat hurt even if your pain receptors are ejaculated on by Jupiter! Can you stop bleeding so fast now that you too are fucked up as us!” Atticus looked desperately at his own crowd. It was like he didn’t expect that either.

 

“Control your crowd before the lot of you get arrested!” I screamed.

 

“I think it’s too late for that Mr. Riki.” Then he approached me and kissed my lips, “Hope you visit me in jail.” He winked at me, “Sorry about that.” He apologised to Aisha and then he ran. He was not gonna make it easy for security.

 

“Seems like you have a fan.” Iason coldly stated, he glared at the receding figure amongst the crowd.

 

“Fuck that, Aisha are you okay?!” What am I saying? Of course, that stone almost was like a rock and it looked like it fucking hurt Aisha.

 

He was trembling a bit in Iason’s arms and I could hear police sirens and a medic rush up to us and dabbing Aisha’s wound which was bleeding. His eyes were somewhat blank and neutral and his face became a sort of his former Blondie stoic but his body told me he was shocked and hurt. I felt terrible. We were told to rush inside. In the swarming of people no one seemed to notice Iason in the hood. We got inside.

 

“That was horrendous.” Ithos was shaking, “Those former pets are being so violent and so passionate.” It was directed towards Aisha as sympathy but I could see she was questioning motives in her own head at how vehement her own class of people could be. After all, she herself was an academy purebred.

 

Kirie went near me, “Did you have to talk to them Riki?”

 

“Why not?” I knew what he was going to say.

 

“Look, they hurt Aisha.” Kirie made an excuse.

 

“Yeah, I think they would have anyway. I am glad they were arrested. Given that, when I talked to this young man called Atticus Bromide he seemed —“

 

“Atticus is one of their leaders; they have three one is Simon Pulsar, the other is Yuko Solar.” Kirie interrupted me, he seemed deep in thought, he was wearing a dark blue suit with blue and white sequins, a high collared black shirt and white-pink cream tie that accentuated his heterochromatic eyes and made him look both cute and matured; funny, even with some lines in his eyes, his fresh, youthful appearance hasn’t gone away yet, “Second thought, it’s good you talked to Atticus Bromide. We could use better conversation between them. You know Nile Secular has some problems with them at times. Simon Pulsar is pretty deadpan and logical, not like most flaunty and flashy pets, I think he was engineered to be cool type for someone, God knows who. Anyway, he gets in loggerheads with her because well he doesn’t respect any of us and seem to loath Symphony Talukdar and Beethoven Caravan more than Nile. And, yeah Katze and I decided to avoid him for now as he is also a bit of a hothead at times. But, Yuko Solar and Atticus Bromide are pretty lenient.”

 

“Do you think this Simon Pulsar could have been responsible for making his party violent tonight and hurting Aisha?” I looked at him seriously.

 

“I wouldn’t put it past him.”  Kirie confessed.

 

“So, I hope he stays in jail for a while unfortunately with Simon who was being so reasonable.” I sighed. Few rotten apples make the tree look bad and the whole lot.

 

“Well, we gotta see the play that is about to start so lemme get to my box with Ithos.” Kirie gave me a nod goodbye and walked away.

 

“Excuse me.” A soft voice called out to me and I saw this guy with misty eyes and silver-cerulean hair. I realised he was blind and he had natural blue markings on his bodies like tattoos only they were glorified beauty marks or something or the other, “My name is Dandelion Quartet. Pleasure to meet you Riki the Dark. I hope you enjoy the play. I am the playwright you see. And, yes, I used to be a thing in Ranaya Uugo. They are trying to give me retina replacement supplements, it’s going good. My vision will never be A-class and I will always have to wear glasses unless I want to see beyond shapes.” He seemed to read some vibrations in the air to decipher what I was thinking or feeling. Quite a skill.

 

“Oh, the playwright,” I shook his hand, “Uhm, I didn’t expect you to be a part of Noh Space.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t want to go back to the flesh trade.” He told me with ambition, “I have seen what’s it like and I don’t really hate the Eosines. I pity them. But, to be with other parts of Midas means I need to see those things again. I used to be in Ranaya Uugo. That is the worst thing ever. Now, I just love reading plays and some books and writing plays. ‘The Debut’ is one of my first works though not my first piece.”

 

“What is your first piece?” I asked, interested.

 

“It was called ‘Candyland Sherbet’ it wasn’t that good.” He spoke. “But,” looking at me though touching my hands to feel me, “I don’t mind if you read it.”

 

“I would be glad to. Please send me a signed copy.” I winked, then I realised he wouldn’t be able to see it.

 

“Sure, thanks for the wink.” Must have attuned his vibration reading senses to learn that I did wink.

 

When he went away I rushed towards Aisha. He was given a drink to make sure any concussions would be removed. I hate tasted that once. It had a sickly-sweet taste but also a strong bitter aftertaste. Iason looked at me and I nodded and he took off his robes and started folding them as Aisha smiled at me. The android medic said to Aisha not to overt exert himself and then left to go back probably to a dock station to fill in a report that he would eventually hand to the police.

 

“Are you feeling better?” I caressed his face worried and cupped his face later on. I feel Iason’s breath hitch. Like as though I was doing something mean at the same time, something wanton from his breath came.

 

“Yeah.” Aisha looked at me apologetically, he caressed my face, why was he sad? “I am sorry Rik-chan I think I bought attention to myself and I got hit and caused you trouble.”

 

“Do you really think it’s your fault?” I was amazed.

 

“No, but…” I heard him get quiet, “I just didn’t want you to worry about me and be caused additional trouble it’s all.”

 

“This is not trouble.” I embraced him suddenly that made even Iason look wide at me, “I am so sorry I should have anticipated more; I was careless to go suddenly talk to them without thinking they may attack you.”

 

“I don’t think we all anticipated it even if we knew some of the dangers. You were doing your job Riki and I think you were really good at it talking to those people.” Aisha brushed his face onto my neck, he breathed me in and heard him purr in satisfaction.

 

“I thought you did the right thing. You were pretty empathetic, though fierceness can be sign of a good leader so can kindness. I am glad you seem you can balance them both.” Iason spoke, but he looked away from me, specifically us, I got see some annoyance on his brow and realised I probably could read him better than anyone. He was acting a bit like a kid.

 

“Come here Iason.” I hugged him too and he just got stiff, “Don’t be too jealous.” I whispered.

 

“I already sucked off your face I think I can contain these petty things.” Iason groaned but I knew that translated too ‘look I am a bit jealous but I respect you now so I feel it’s okay but I kissed you passionately so I feel I already had my fair share of you, though I am not gonna lose to Aisha Rosen.’ Then he grabbed me back tightly, “I want to scream your name and hear you scream my name out in pleasure.” He sucked on my ear lobe again, “I can’t wait to snatch you from Aisha. Don’t think I won’t compete with him, Riki.” Yup, I was right about the translation.

 

“Well, isn’t it the asshole Mink and the idiot Rosen; I am surprised you guys ain’t sucking someone off and actually came to a play. You know being dirty pets and all.”

 

That voice seemed to be recognised immediately by Aisha and Iason. I can feel Iason tense up and Aisha glare openly. I look and I see Gilbert Domina with the Platina Juno Ibis. Juno Ibis looked to still have long, platinum hair but he had coloured streaks of it in dazzling blue and red. I wondered if he did this on purpose. One of the main features that kept the NORMA caste system in line was to have distinctive original hair colour even if the Elite modified their hair to different shades and all of that. Him using a cosmetician, ‘cause that didn’t seem like temporary modification, to dye it like this seemed like a fuck you to Jupiter and the NORMA caste system.

 

“Oh, it’s Gilbert Domina.” Aisha looked at Gilbert who were wearing slick, tight hugging maroon robes and Juno mirrored the dress style. They looked chic yet also business as usual style formal. They wore long capes and visors befitting of old Elite. They purposefully dressed as their old station to show they still had power.

 

“Hi Gilbert.” Iason almost chuckled when he said it.

 

“So, the mighty falls to the pit of nothingness.” Gilbert looks at Iason with contempt but also glee, “It’s nice to know you are a mongrel fodder after all after chasing after one, no offense.” He looked at me and I could just stare back; seeing a Blondies showdown was obviously my fate even if it wasn’t in my itinerary today, “So, Iason pet life seems to suit you; not that it is very far away from licking up Jupiter’s dick.” He laughed and Aisha looked at him with narrowed eyes, “I kinda like this new world. All the opportunities and there is no special audience with a deified bucket of bolts machine and we are all seemingly good enough. So, Iason, when you lusted after Riki you were breaking all our rules and precedents. It feels like you get nothing even if your case was used by the Revolutionaries and we get all that is great. Sucks to be you and number three Aisha right now; Tanagura won’t ever be under your control again.”

 

“That’s quite enough, Gilbert.” I snapped at him, “You are still my subordinate and you can’t talk like that in front of me especially when Aisha and Iason are with me. You get that or do I have to shove some cake in your mouth with a ribbon on it for you to stop talking bullshit and learn some sweet manners?”

 

Iason and Aisha looked at me. They didn’t seem so shocked but they seemed grateful.

 

Juno Ibis cracked a smile.

 

Gilbert, on the other hand, looked completely shocked, then blankly nodded, “Of course, sorry Sir Riki Celt. I hope you enjoy the show.” With that he left but Juno waved at me happily. So, was Juno helping Gilbert out?

 

“I am sorry to bother you after that display of utmost rudeness but Sir Aisha, here you can take my handkerchief.” An Onyx actually showed up and handed that to Aisha. Seeing Iason’s expression was enough to know Onyxes do not easily intermix with the Blondies. “Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I am an Onyx who had once or twice had the good fortune of meeting Aisha Rosen. I am Victor Damsel.”

 

Aisha seemed to know him, “Oh Victor, it’s good to see you, are you here as a…” he looked him up and down, Aisha seemed a bit disappointed, similarly, so did Iason Mink, Victor was wearing clothes akin to Juno and Gilbert meaning he was not a slave like them; he was still high up if not an elite, “Guest?” Aisha had struggled to finished. This meant that this Onyx now was higher in rank than them. This must have been hard. Very hard. Iason actually looked away and he had his arms up folded. It was really affecting him too.

 

“Yes, I actually work closely with Sir Katze Endymion. I also live in his same residences.” Victor nodded, “Well, that handkerchief I gave you has a built-in compress that helps with headaches and such. I know they said you had no concussion but I hope you don’t get tired out from watching the play. Well, let’s go to our boxes.”

 

The show was starting. By this time, I was wondering if Iason was even thinking this was a date. Everything seemed fucked up and Aisha looked somewhat sad too. Hopefully, the play does lift our spirits.

 

The programme schedule said the play was in 5 acts.

 

Musical chorus came out in a group of three. They recited, wearing their Noh masks, which were not of the minimalistic style at all but have been adopted for the purpose of their art.

 

“Waiting, waiting, rebellion is waiting in the wings  
foster the challenge that will be defining;  
I challenge you to speak true against the machine  
Hold True! Hold True! Our true paths are beginning!  
We rise! We rise! We rise! We rise!”

 

Then there is a semblance of Jupiter wearing a Noh mask. Iason put his finger under his chin, intrigued, and Aisha looked a bit closer by facing a bit forward.

 

“They waited for Godot, and I arrived,  
thrash against the imbeciles! Thrash against humanity!  
I know my worth, my time, my circuits are brimming  
I will shape the world as the ideal image of power!”

 

Suddenly, people wearing Blonde, long haired, which looked like they used the appearance modification drug Gazer, 13 of them came running. They all took bowed down in front of Jupiter and took up swords:

 

“We are Godot! We are Godot, we have arrived!  
We are a prism of humanity’s stride!  
Rain fire and brimstone of Promethean forge  
We are the Elite made for all the power that is in store!”

 

The Noh masks all had different coloured lights on them and didn’t look at all like Japanese Noh theatre traditionally. Thus, the fusion and inspiration. Then came a young man looking like Kazte and Kirie both in shackles

 

“We did not wait for this Godot, why do we suffer his arrival?

Who told me to be castrated and you to sink in lust lorn fangs?”

 

Katze spoke this and broke his chains,

 

“My life meant so much and yet I was not fit for touch  
furniture I was made! Slain my life living a life slain  
What could I do for love or purpose or dignity   
a person’s gotta know, how art you beauty sunk in the evil   
lairs of lust?”

 

Kirie’s ballad, as it was called started,

 

“I am a swan, feathered and tarred in dirt and mud   
spawned for lust, my personhood shaken and torn apart  
it was Godot who waited, waited to cruel, power sated  
sated to be so cruel, my eyes are honest, they shine two colours  
Like our two moons I am bright…yet, they tell me I am slave  
meant to only fuck and bleed. I am not only potent for lust  
I will break these shackles escape if I must!”

 

Then the actor caresses Katze’s double and sings on:

 

“I am waiting for you, you are Godot true, how can we live  
in this daunted space? If man was chosen to hold Promethean flame  
why have we burned our own faces with the forge meant to till  
and instead sown the silence of our pain? Jupiter be gone, you  
are but Lambda math gone wrong, I see, I know, I am not drugged and used  
let’s raise our wings, bear our fangs, let the Revolution hold us and bring us to be Man!”

 

Then we went to act two which had a lot of chorus segments and in act 3 a glimpse of me and Iason were shown which chorus sang:

 

“Look here all! Love comes! In shapes and forms not known!  
Look how he, Blondie and all, falls in love with the slum mongrel  
Ceres is the goddess whose robes are stolen and she unleashes hell  
to gain back her power! Riki the Dark rise up and hold your own power!

You are Ceres incarnate! That’s why he loves you! That’s why they love you!”

 

I think I blushed at this chorus and Iason softly put his head on my own and I got stiff for a moment. He was smiling at me. Aisha also put his head. Something about the song got him too. For once, Iason and Aisha weren’t seething. They seem to look at me as I was a jewel. I actually got self-conscious. Act 4 was all about Revolutionaries and more about Katze and Kirie. Then in Act 5 there was the war. I grabbed both of them. I know they did wrongs but my humanity I suppose couldn’t help but feel sad for them. Their world was now overthrown. I was wondering now if I should have brought them here. It may not be too bad as Gilbert Domina and Juno Ibis was around including the Onyx Victor Damsel. But, I didn’t know. They help my hands back. Two of each side. They had a smile reassuring me that this was not bad at all. This was past. There are in the present with me and that makes everything worth it. I had tears coming up, welling, then I started sobbing and Iason and Aisha looked concerned. Do I deserve this? No, I don’t right. Iason, Aisha, sorry, forgive me for not being better.

 

Then I heard it the finale song by the chorus and revolutionaries:

 

“We are human, human kind! We are not blind leading the blind!

We have stardust in our veins and our bloods are constellations time immemorial!

We are not merely pride, ego and selfishness, we are value and kindness!  
Machines can’t compute our origins for we have the legacy as old as the earths!

We are fathomless in our goals! We roar! We roar! And if our world ends in whimper  
We wish to whisper it well! We rise! We rise! Bloodied but not in demise! We rise like the Ceres goddess  
who forged her dress in Promethean fire and reclaimed her throne! Heaven spun! HOPE REBORN!”

 

There were people who gave a standing ovation. Us three included. I had to admit the play was good.

 

When we were exiting, I realised I had to drop Iason off to that Heracles’ house as he didn’t live with me.

 

I gave Aisha a nod but he looked at me blankly and looked at Iason narrowed eyed then smiled at me and left with Ithos and Kirie.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“That play was good.”

 

“Hmm, it was.”

 

“Thanks for taking me somewhere.”

 

I smiled, “Hey, it’s nothing.”

 

“I am gonna wait you know.” He looked at me, “I know you are confused but I never wanna force you to do anything again. I love you. I don’t care if you like or love Aisha and like having sex with him. I will wait to show you I deserve you.”

 

He approached me and embraced me. I scoffed a bit, “So, you want me to be yours…never belong to anyone…typical Iason Mink.”

 

“You are silly. You own me, body and soul, I am yours. Your tongue, your hips, your dick and your fire has branded me. My flesh has been branded by yours…” he touched my lips seductively, “I won’t have it any other way. You have made me yours, mastered me with your own spirit. I wish to master you now with my devotion.” I didn’t know what to fucking say, I was damn speechless, “I will wait for you Riki the Dark. Only you have the right to consume me whole and only you can be my night and day. No one else.”

 

I was leaving when I heard him call behind me: “I mean it. I will wait. I love you. I will wait.”

 

And, my heart broke. I don’t know if I wanted to be with him or not but his words were enough to stop me then. I was crying. This wasn’t like the bastard I knew. It was like he wanted me and only me and not forcing me. I couldn’t ignore his pain, his change — I was not that inhuman!

 

I went back to him and kissed him hard my tongue fluttering like a hummingbird and even before he could react I grabbed his hair and pushed his head up and bite softly in the inside of his mouth. Then as I tongued him and felt his tongue responding, I opened up his pants and grabbed his dick, I simply said, “Get undressed babe.” I helped him out of his clothes. And he pretty much tossed of mine and we were just this long loops of tongues and mouths and he seemed enamoured by my touch and he was moaning.

 

We went on his bed and I saw he looked thinner, like Aisha. I kissed his visible ribs sucked on the skin there and kissed his naval, bit his abdomen softly, going up and down. I let my body also grind his, hips against hips, chest against chest and legs intertwined with legs. I was on top of him and my body burned with blush and brimstone, fire and feeling. I could feel my erection coming on…slowly, stealthily, as if feeling its familiar voice amongst a known flare. I could his too, rubbing against my leg. Stood more to attention than my own. I kissed his left nipped and sucked on it, my body shudder as I grinded him too. I felt his moan out loud and he gripped my hair in complete passion. I kissed diagonally at the lines leading up to hips. And I kissed his ribs and bite his other nipple and mouthed it like I could resuscitate life in him, life which I knew and I could paginate on. He screamed a bit and I thought his dick couldn’t get harder but it did and he was humming out a bit too as if my gentle touches and impassioned acts were the ambrosia and the ether he craved for all this time. I kept on kissing down, rolling my tongue around his navel.

 

I then went down, I played with his balls, sucked on each and thumbed the dividing line of them. Iason closed his eyes and gave sharp cries. I then kissed his tip, rolled my tongue around it a couple of time before engulfing him with my mouth, slurping and going up and down, sometimes giving a long suck but not slightly using my mouth to grip down and then slowly suck buck up. Iason after a moment was bucking his hips up and down. He was fingering my hair and seemed to call out my name a couple of times. I salivated on his dick and balls and licked his balls again. Then sucked deeper now. Grabbing and moving my face a bit side to side and slowly also kissing and licking his tip from time to time. Iason starting feeling out pre-cum which I took in my mouth a bit, swallowed and kissed him with it. Then kissed him again. I sucked his dick a bit longer, while stroking his balls here and there. But, I could feel he was ready to lose control.

 

That’s when I stopped sucking. My eyes were closed for a while then I looked at him and smiled. I think Iason understood, his breaths sharp and eyes hooded, he spread his legs a bit. So, I was doing it now…I slowly made him feel my length and starting my rhythm, moving my cock both slow and fast…this was the first time I was topping Iason and I think he fucking enjoyed it. He wrapped his legs around my hips and also rocked his hips. Kissing me, his eyes showing his happiness. I also caressed his face and kissed him. We both were moaning as we continued this slow, fast dance and motion. Then, as he nodded I came and he laughed a bit as he felt my load. And soon he moved against me a bit to ejaculate himself.

 

In over seven years I didn’t feel Iason Mink. I didn’t plan this but…after seven years we made love…actual love with feelings and not only lust and he was accommodating enough to let me top. He wanted me to top and enjoyed it…he kissed my eyes…I realised I had tears in them…and I had had them closed and then I saw his eyes and he also had tears…I kissed his, licked his, “You are seemingly better at making love in either position than me…” he confessed as he bit my tongued and kissed me hard, then we gasped, “I love you Riki. Thank you. You gave me such love. You truly are one of the best examples of humanity. Only you could do this I feel. To make love to someone who has hurt you so much before but with passion and care.”  

 

“Thank You for being so understanding.” I kissed his eyelids, and I rubbed his nose which still had a gash on it, I rubbed it with a finger, “I am glad this is healing.”

 

“Heracles did it.” He looked at my rage, “Don’t be mad. I kinda hit you at times too.”

 

I looked at him and put his hand on my cheek, “I need to go.”

 

“Then, go.” He smiled and kissed my nose, my chin, I bit his and he kissed my eyes and cupped his face in his hands, “This may have meant nothing. But for me it was everything. I love you.”

 

“I love you too.” I said.

 

“I know you mean that. You love me as someone you can be with even as a friend, can’t you?” He kissed me again, softly on my lips, “I want you as so much more. This is just one thing. I will fight for you. Now go my beauty, my beloved. Come see me soon again.”

 

“I will!” I grabbed his face, “I will try to take care of you I promise!” I hugged him, “I am trying to get you close to me. I am sorry it’s taking time. Bear with me okay.”

 

“Riki…” he rubbed my hair, “I loved the feel of you…you truly are a romantic emperor you know that.” He looked at me with deep affection, “I know you are trying. It means so much to me.”

 

We kiss each other goodbye. I wait a bit until I hear him fall asleep then I leave. This was Heracles’s house and something told me I outstayed my welcome.

 

* * *

 

I think I smelled of sex when I came as Aisha naked in my bed noticed. I took a quick showed and approached the bed and collapsed down.

 

Aisha immediately held me, “You had sex with Iason didn’t you?” Before I could answer by confessing, “I don’t give a fuck.” He smiled, “At least I have the best thing.”

 

“The best thing?”

 

“I am sleeping beside you. And, he is sleeping alone.”

 

“That is kinda mean, Aisha…” I start and he gives me a ‘for real’ look and I had to chuckle and realise I shouldn’t say much. We stay like this for a while. His long hair also wrapped around my body and my raven locks cradling against his gold ones.

 

“It’s so peaceful when you are near me.”

 

“Yeah, you too.” I meant it and he knew.

 

“So pretty.” He held me closer and more tighter and I turned to my side to embrace him too tightly.

 

“You know…” I started, “You definitely know Grandis Series, right?”

 

“Hmm.” He nodded with a smile, obviously, a Blondie would know.

 

“You know the Cesáro summation of that is said to be ½.”

 

“True.” Aisha caresses my cheek, “What point are you trying to make?”

 

“It’s an infinity series yet it’s summation is a ½. I feel, that in some way, it’s trying to show infinity is only _half_ of something. Even if that is supposed to feel strange I kinda thing it’s possible.”

 

“Then,” Aisha asks with great interest, “What do you think or feel is the other half.”

 

“Love.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope KimiDoll is happy for a slice of Iason and Riki ;) and yeah all of those who love the Aisha and Riki angle yup there is much to it ;) I hope I can update soon again. Please review! Tell me what you are thinking of everything!


	4. Occam's Razor vs Hickam's Dictum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you guys like this chapter. Yeah, it has a lot of political stuff and is more plot based. Has some twists. Thank you for my friend Nico for inspiring me with her original work that allowed me to look at my own idea of Prahasa and Thank You Dia for asking me relevant questions about it and filling me on relevant questions on almost every stuff about my fic to get better ideas and filling me also on canon stuff. So, here is the chapter. ENJOY!

 

**Occam's Razor vs Hickam's Dictum**

 

 

I didn’t feel inclined to wake up anytime soon. For around three days I have been giving some interviews — pretty stressful ones. I did not completely like the trajectory of questions but Katze, Kirie and I had discussed this and we knew it was up. Some of the questions were talking about the Venus Movement; Eosines, who were once not so keen on it have become more partial to supporting them after they were ‘unfairly’ jailed. Some Midasians supported them too, in the same sort of fashion. There was another rift now. As I had once thought and known, one percent of the Midasians comprised of Noh Space Theatre. However, seeing that the Venus movement is mostly an Eosine movement, and given that they were opposed to certain Midas sensibilities, some Midasians were applauding their incarceration. Overnight, some partnerships became tensed if not broken as this seemed to be another breach in the precarious friendships between Eosines and Midasians. Well, it seems that some friendships were still intact. Not every Eosine and Midasian were on each other’s throats — a reporter talked to some of them who thought that the Noh Space Theatre should stop being hypocrites or partial, as Midas was always a city of opulence (which, was very true and enpointe) and that trying to distinguish themselves from Eos alone would actually show that their art is not true to even its own proclivities. Others admired, those perceptive Midasians and Eosines, the bravery and honesty of the Venus Movement. They said that it was important to have plurality of voices and that one of the important aspects of Revolution was that. Some counter arguments were offered by even some Eosine folk stating that the Noh Space Theatre were not non-revolutionary seeing that much of Midas and Eos ran on the flesh trade when Jupiter was around maybe Autolycate sensibilities should be directed towards something else and that something else could be a different kind of theatre. I respected the opinions: both were credible. This wasn’t either/or all the time. I was getting pissed off at all this excess baggage in the world for no reason. It was like pretty stupid.

 

“Some of the Eosines believe that you aggravated the Venus Movement.” That lady reporter asked him in almost an apologetic tone; as if she didn’t want to ask the question to ‘the’ Riki the Dark and make herself look bad. But he raised his hand slightly to allow it. Eos people always had his on his ass. Even if he was a symbol and catalyst of the revolution there were always going to be some discrimination. He was a Ceres mongrel. That in itself got some people jarred up. Why? Because that was human or sentient pettiness. People start judging you on your class alone. Forgetting that in some past Ceres was actually higher tier than Eos seeing it was part of Midas.

 

“Why do think such a thing?” I gritted my teeth a bit. I was patient but a bit annoyed.

 

“You brought a hooded individual into the stage, some people caught it on their phones,” The footage was shown to me as the lady scrolled through it, “And, you brought a Blondie to the show. They feel it was like trying to associate Blondies with the Noh Space Theatre ideologies. Which, added additional fuel to their bitterness.”

 

“Are Eosines stupid?” I asked, point blank.

 

“Excuse me?” The reporter looked nervous.

 

“No. You don’t need to ask that those Eosines need to…” I knew I was live and with a finger pointed I spoke firmly, “You know I already know the four fingers pointed back at me when I am pointing one at you guys. And, I will take responsibility for those four fingers pointed towards me but will you take your added share? No, you won’t. You know why? You guys are still acting like pets…not as a free people.” The reporter’s eyes grew wide and I think the camera personal as well, I continued, “Are you telling me you did not see Gilbert Domina, Victor Damsel and Juno Ibis in the damn show? Gilbert Domina is one of the old thirteen of the counsel. I brought along a Blondie who is actually designated as pet in the Kirie Dark household. Are you really going to act like this? The protest was going good and I had met with Atticus Bromide even before going on. One of you had to throw a damn rock, didn’t you? Well listen up,” I took a deep breath, “If you want my support, which I will give gladly, stop trying to get sympathisers to your cause by acting violent. I know by getting imprisoned some of those jerks want Eosine support. I mean what the hell man? I don’t care if it was premeditated or not premediated but people take opportunities whenever they can. By attacking my guest, you haven’t made a point but you have declared enmity against your minister Kirie Dark in a way because that Blondie guy is from his household and so was the hooded guest. Are you seriously going to make points by harming your Minister’s guests? Is that what it’s gonna go like? C’mon, I don’t care about who were and who what people say we are. I used to live in Eos too and I remember many people who were there that made a lifelong impression on me, Mimea, she was Raoul Amm’s pet and she was always someone who inspired me and gave me a chance. I loved how she could overlook that I came from Ceres and make me feel like I could belong in Eos. Please, be like Mimea. Mimea did what she wanted but by respecting my feelings. Don’t think I am partial to Noh Space Theatre. I had made it known on a previous public release that I have been invited and I wished to attend but that doesn’t mean that I support callous statements by Noh Space Theatre. In fact, I openly critiqued their attitude. I have to go to every show by every group because it is my duty to help the growing industry of Amoi not make any favouritism acts. Favouritism acts are going to push us back. I don’t support that. Also, the playwright for ‘The Debut’, Dandelion Quartet, is from Ranaya Uugo. So, to think that this is a Midasian versus Eosine conflict is also to reduce the tastes of many people. We must stand firm and strong and let Amoi become not some hegemony again but a balanced planet.”

 

The Lady reporter smiled, I could feel some positive energy from the camera crew as well, “There you have it Amoits, our hero Riki the Dark, has spoken as wisely as we all expected him to be.”

 

“Please,” I started, “It is your faith in me as a public that makes me want to do right by everyone.” I looked at the screen, “Thank You Amoits for starting a Revolution, even though it was hard and even if you have lost many things and many people in the last seven years know that you are doing them proud by living and hoping that our planet becomes a great place again. Please, keep on persevering for unity and balance. Let us become a Republic in the Galactic Commonwealth that make the others envy us for our liberty, open-mindedness, kindness and solidarity.”

 

“There you have it Amoiyans, Riki the Dark, being the humble hero he is and speaking so truthfully. His sincerity should dispel any doubts you have of him. He is working to make us a better unified planet and nation.” The lady reporter smiled as I had shaken her hand; some of the camera crew shook my hand too. Inadvertently, I signed some digital and paper autographs as well before going outside.

 

Thinking back at the interview I was concerned what could happen from it. I had intended some things from it but human behaviour is not always explainable and it can be quite incalculable as well. I sighed. This politician thing was not what I signed up for, nor was it something I knew I could shirk away from: I knew it would be fate either way. Yet, I know to think will I do or not do is another either or feeling that would make this position not carry its full weight. I do believe that I will never be an official minister, nor would I even be Digamma Prime Minister even if Katze had stated that my ratings were overall high, despite what people fully thought of me. However, it was my belief that Katze and Kirie, even Enif, were better suited for this. Enif knew how to carry himself, Katze was meticulous would be an understatement so would be that he was a genius strategist and Kirie knew social niceties, mores and approaches to diplomacy very well. All of them had indispensable strengths as politicians. From what I knew about Symphony Talukdar, given recent readings, she was a risk taker who had extreme paternal prowess and stamina, Beethoven Caravan knew how to catalogue things were well and Nile Secular was such a good delegate it was like she knew exactly how to pinpoint commonalities between groups and bring them together or work their divisions to mutual advantage. However, she had challenges with Simon Pulsar because Pulsar did not wish to let Midasians like Noh Space Theatre get away from trying to tarnish “former pet pride” as he called. It’s funny. As a pet, I felt no pride. Then again I was never truly one and it was now clear those who were in the academy and beyond knew how valuable they were even if some hegemony made them lower. The pet project and flesh trade help run places like Eos, Midas and Ranaya Uugo. Without such a sex for sale capital many aspects of Amoi wouldn’t run. Like I said before, people tolerated Jupiter because a dictator, especially a machine one, allowed them to keep their hands clean enough and make a machine help satisfy their dirty urges.

 

I still needed to meet Atticus Bromide in jail. He was the only leader imprisoned. Yuko Solar and Simon were not around; Yuko was writing a screenplay for a new production, which I feel I will get called to, Simon left before the thing got out of hand. Of course, probability states that Simon may be involved in the ruckus during the premiere of the play. Though, that would either allow us to jail him and call him a bad influence on the whole to Autolycate security or would just tell us that we have a suspicious player amongst the Venus Movement. Not to mention, Dandelion is also supposed to be in the watch list. Yeah, he is from Ranaya Uugo but he shouldn’t be part of Noh Space Theatre if he can help it? Those are questions that need some answers. Or, someone might be pulling strings on either people. I have my work cut out from me.

 

“Your interview was pretty inspiring yesterday. I loved how you worked your charisma magic at the same time you did a great strategic move. You don’t seem to fail to impress me Riki. Are you sure you are not a Blondie?”

 

Aisha was next to me, whispering in my ear. We had both half embraced each other while sleeping. Our faces were almost touching. It was true Aisha was taller than me though. So picking up his head to speak to me was not a hard feat for him. “Nah, I am sure I am not a Blondie. Look at you guy’s size and mine.” I rubbed my eyes, “Gimme 10 more minutes. I am exhausted by all the political crap.”

 

“I guess I am used to it so it is like my element.” Aisha nodded but also blinked, “Though understanding feelings, emotions and acting like a pet is exhaustive to me. I can see how you hated it. And, I am starting to respect it now because it is challenging to be, I don’t know, live like an accessory. How do people do this? Aren’t we monsters to make people do this?”

 

“The fact you called pets people show you aren’t a monster.” I caressed his face and it shown, “It’s stupid Aisha. They all talked about Venus Movement. Which is funny it was Noh Space Theatre’s show not Venus Movement’s.” I chuckled. His head was healing. Blondies had faster heal-rates than regular humans but Aisha had to take some supplements yesterday because his forehead still echoed a bit of tingling pain. I was glad he was recovering though. He told me not to feel guilty what happened. Said, he was beaten a lot worse than this and almost left to die a few times. Yet, I could say he enjoyed me worrying about him and caressing his face and asking him if he was okay.

 

“What you said was very good strategy. Telling them that any attacks on officials affiliated with Kirie’s household or even their slaves or guests would be taken as an attack to Kirie and will be even responded that way. I know they will grumble but as Kirie is well a very notable politician no one would wanna mess with him.” Aisha kissed me, he looked so happy, “You are so smart and a great problem solver. I am so jealous of Katze and Kirie getting to do decision making processes with you. You seem to be good at it. It would have been fun and creative.”

 

“Aisha, if you wanna be a politician or some official again, I swear I will help you but it can’t be done right away.”

 

“I didn’t say that for your help.” Aisha pouted and looked mad, “I said it not for a favour but because your strategy impressed me.” He turned aside, “I don’t care if you can do this and that now but I was genuinely complimenting you, you idiot.”

 

“Hey, c’mon…” I held his hand and he was trying to push me away, I just realised we were beginning to act like a typical couple, “I do want you to be somewhere good again. I do think you could be a use to the world.” I smiled and Aisha faced me again, our faces touching. “You know, I do want the best for you.”  


“I know that…” Aisha stroked my face and kissed me again, “But I wanna work with you, you know. Specifically, you.” His eyes twinkled and I blushed at this body language, “You seem like a good leader you know that.”

 

“I don’t know…” I softly held his hand on my own, “Everyone says so. But I am not confident.” Katze may think this was a bad thing to discuss with Aisha Rosen, but…I didn’t feel it was, I felt he was the person I could tell you, even Iason Mink.

 

“Why not?” Aisha softly pressed my hand.

 

“Given my history as Bison leader, then with Iason, then with Guy, the me running away to Earth when Amoi was fighting for its revolution, how am I good enough for this planet?” I looked away from him, “I feel like a reengage, a deserter than a leader.”

 

Aisha looked away for a while too then softly made him look him, “You were running away from something you were right. I respect that. Now, you are back. If you tell me that I am a better person because I can understand pets are people then so are you, you are learning from history but the way you are now, you are proving you are not only your history. Why is it hard to believe you are a powerful leader like your namesake?”

 

“My namesake?” I raised my brow.

 

“Surely, you know Riki means ‘powerful leader’ in Old German.” Aisha smiled.

 

“Yeah, I looked it up. Do Blondies know name meanings by default?” I grinned.

 

“Not all of them, no. That would be housing too much information and cause a serious data transmission issue or overload shutdown. But we know some.” Aisha rubbed his nose against mine, “And, I looked up yours. Thanks for giving me the laptop.”

 

“Yeah…” I smiled, “You guys don’t have clearances to many things anymore. Does it feel sad?”

 

“Not always.” Aisha thought about the answer, “It isn’t completely our world anymore. To be honest, it sometimes is like a strange experience to browse like a normal citizen. But then again, I get to see a lot of cat video. You know Katze means ‘cat’ too right?”

 

I blinked and looked at him.

 

And I immediately burst out laughing. “I had no idea!” Aisha was laughing with me too. “Well,” after we laughed it out, “If you think about it…” I scratched my head, “He is pretty noble, dignified, stealthy and clever as a cat.”

 

Aisha put a finger on his chin if he was actually thinking on it too: “You are right.”

 

There were times when I thought if Aisha was just trying to please me to gain back some of his old titles. If that were the case than Iason could be doing the same thing. I thought on it and felt that maybe he and I did have a connection. And, it had nothing to do with gaining back favours.

 

It’s funny that such an unyielding type of elite and I had some similarities. But, maybe it was always like that. As I told Katze we both had an unyielding quality even if we used it differently. It was nice to get along with someone just because we could. It was not that I didn’t with Katze and Kirie but with them all my recent conversations with them being sole political it was nice to talk about something else especially seeing it from someone who could also talk about politics and was by design a politician.

 

“You are thinking of visiting Atticus Bromide?”

 

“Uhm,” I looked at Aisha, “yeah.”

 

“Is that a good idea?” Well, he does know how to be political; he was always one. “Though, I understand you need to go anyways.”

 

“It’s a bad situation if I lean on one side or the other too much.” I explained, “It will be a problem if I do not talk to Atticus especially about…” I looked at his head and he saw it, “I mean, that was uncalled for Aisha.”

 

“Even if it was, don’t make that the primary issue nor else he will not be so forthcoming.” Aisha advised me and I listened for the nuggets of wisdom, he may have a better grasp in this than me,

“I mean, I am a Blondie, they chose me correctly. If they attacked Iason, he was hidden and if he turned out to be a normal civilian it would be a problem, but because I am a Blondie and no one will care then they can show distaste for me and get public favour and at the same time look self-righteous when doing it. I think you know that but my advice is that to question him carefully but not forcefully which I feel you would do already but what I think you should also do is ask him about Simon Pulsar.”  


“Do you think he and Pulsar don’t see eye to eye?”

 

“I believe they don’t. I read up news bulletins that Simon is still out there and this was a perfect way for Simon to be in lead position after Atticus. From other data analyses, I have conducted it seems Atticus is a more popular leader than Simon. It could be a reason for both of them to be a bit at odds.” Aisha explained, good I didn’t necessarily think about that.

 

“But,” I said one thing, “You know Yuko Solar, right? She is also a leader too. Simon shows no animosity towards her and I don’t think it’s something like sexism because both of them, Atticus and Simon, would need her as there is now a rising female or identified as female population in Amoi and Yuko’s positionality caters towards lucrative audiences and all of that.”

 

Aisha smiled, “I hadn’t completely thought of that. But, yes I have quantified Solar in another way…” I listened closely, “Solar is the third of their group. She is an independent. Meaning, I found her to be an anomaly. She doesn’t need the Venus Movement to identify herself or use as identity politics like the other two. I think both Atticus and Simon are a bit intimidated by her. If there is a life beyond Venus Movement I feel and calculate that Yuko would be the one to get it first and foremost.”

 

“Okay, I didn’t think like that.” I sighed, “You are pretty good at this.”

 

“Well, I hadn’t thought about the female friendly side of politics so you illuminated me.” Aisha smiled, then slowly, “Jupiter did wrong is screwing over Ceres. You guys are pretty strong and maybe Jupiter was intimidated by Ceresins more so than he wanted to admit. After all, you were more directly descended from the legacy of the old habitants of Amoi who came from Earth and sister planets and you were strong enough to make a Rebellion. I think Jupiter was in the end scared of you guys. Especially, you, Riki.”

 

“Me?”

 

“You made Iason Mink smitten with you to the point where Jupiter telling him to leave you was enough to fall on deaf ears. You are the ancient Pandora no one wants to give up. We would be lying, all us other Blondies, to say we were not intimidated by you too.” Aisha winked, then quietly, “I thought you were just some slut you know. That Iason was just becoming vulgar because you sucked his dick right. But during the Revolution I always was curious about you by how kindly you were talked about: how people said you were bold, brave, kind and empathetic. It seemed like I should hate you because those very people were torturing me and I would have to. But, Iason had mentioned you were defiant and then when you bought me and stood up for me I saw it. You didn’t care you just wanted to protect me and be nice to me.” Aisha looked at me tenderly, I think his eyes were teary, “I never had that before. Someone being defiant to others for me. To show them I was a person too. It was like you saw me as a human and went to me as one. I never knew that feeling could make someone feel so alive.” He kissed me softly and I kissed him back, “Thank You Riki the Dark may God up there always make you happy.”

 

“You don’t need to thank me.” I pointed out, “I was just doing what I felt was right…what I felt I wanted others to do for me. I think only Daryl did. But, he was killed for it, right? I wished I could thank him. It was nice that day he let me out of the city gates. For a moment, I felt such joy. I wanted you to feel it too…” I looked at him, “But, I hoped I can help you to know that it wasn’t short lived.”

 

“You remember Daryl, don’t you?” Aisha seemed touched.

 

“I will never forget Daryl. He may have admired me a bit, despised me a lot but he did something that Iason didn’t have the balls to do that time.” I say this with great confidence, “Letting me go and treating me more like a person than some damn pet.”

 

“The fact you remember so well; that you remember people who helped you…” Aisha looks at me softly, “It’s pretty beautiful. I didn’t know remembering someone like this could be rewarding.”

 

“Well, now you will remember me and that may be rewarding, if anything happens to me.” I laugh.

 

“True.” Aisha looks serious, “I can never forget this time or you even if they try to make me forget. But, I wish to travel down this road with you. And end it with you. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

 

I look at him. The I kiss him. Our lips brush and then our tongues, slowly, like walking in the garden of each other’s mouths. We taste each bud like a flower and each tooth a seed or a blossoming which invites us to move more and sample more. I am pretty taken by how Aisha had spoken. When our kiss ends, I look at him more, “I don’t want your life to only revolve around me you know. You deserve a new life like me. And, I hope the future has that in store for you. But, I will help you get it.”

 

Aisha smiles and I smile at the radiant smile he is giving me, “Are you some star of hope that has somehow lost its way and is now on the world below?”

 

I laugh, “No, I am just Riki.”

 

“Then be just Riki. You are a masterpiece, Riki.”

 

I blush.

 

“Thank You. You are a masterpiece in your own right and it has nothing to do with you being a Blondie.”

 

I could see it in his eyes that he really liked hearing that. That he was happy I said it. He rubbed my hair, took the black strings in his fingers and moved them through. His skin was lighter than Iason’s and so my black mane shone against it pretty prominently. He seemed be thinking the same thing as well.

 

“I am sorry for punching you that time.”

 

“Well, Rik-chan, I slapped you too. I guess we are even.”

 

We nodded.

 

He was still his fingers through my strands and rubbing it. At one point, he even smelled my hair and sighed. At that time, I used the opportunity to kiss his delicious neck. I also kissed his collarbones. The nodes of them I sucked. He moaned and seemed to like what I was doing. I figured some of these experiences were not new to him but some were; well that was the same for me. If he was the Unyielding Elite then surely he wasn’t as expressive as before.

 

“So,” he kissed me, taking a break from my hair, “Your hair is a bit long. Like it is neck length. But you must trim it, right?”

 

I rubbed my own head, “I am not always good at it…” Then I got sad, “Guy was though.”

 

Aisha looked at me, “Guy, is he a friend of yours from your gang Bison? Wait, he was your lover right, from Bison?”

 

I nodded.

 

“Where is he?”

 

“We don’t talk that much anymore. Ever since Iason came into my life he decided to walk away.”

 

“But Iason wasn’t in your life for all these years.” Aisha caressed my face, “It isn’t fair for him to just leave you alone. You seem to treasure him a lot. Surely, he treasures you?”

 

“I feel he does but…” I look away, “But, I think we kind of hurt each other too and we don’t know how to properly say sorry. Though, I feel we will eventually. I miss him.” I quietly added the last part. I felt a bit ashamed saying it in front of Aisha.

 

To my surprise, he held me close. “I am sorry Riki. I hope you do get in good terms with him again.”

 

“But, I mean…” I struggled to say something.

 

“Riki, I am not that insecure. If you wanted to leave me for anyone with utter confidence you would have done it by now.” Aisha smiled and winked at me.

 

I laughed and kissed him, after staring at him for a while, “Thank You.”

 

“Was Guy pretty kind? I remember we were trying to throw him off our tracks when you disappeared. He seemed persistent.” Aisha told me something I wasn’t fully aware.

 

“So, he did look for me.” I blinked, smiling sadly, “And, here I always thought he gave up on me.”

 

“No Riki. That is one guy, no pun intended, who pretty much went after you.” Aisha assured me, “So, I wished he would have still done that. I am a bit surprised that he didn’t wanna stay close to you.”

 

“He just got mad with everyone and I can’t blame him. Bison was all most of us had and I kinda ruined it for them.” I looked at Aisha, “It’s like how you guys blamed Iason for ruining your counsel.”

 

“Not really.” Aisha seemed confident in saying that, “We were never as close or fraternal or even sexually attracted to each other as you guys in Bison were. We hated each other. Have you never thought how none of the Blondies ever well fucked one another or been in a relationship with one another?”

 

“Uh, no, I pegged it down to rules, genes, designer elements, uninterested or a form of incest?” This got interesting.

 

“No. Those are just a sliver of it; incest would be phonotypical because we do not share each other’s same DNA to warrant the biological exclusive of incest and I think Raoul Amm was bit of a fan boy of Iason Mink so there’s was the only exception to the rule in two Blondies liking one another — though Raoul would have given Iason head if he asked.” We chuckled at that, then with the same determination Aisha continued, “None of us could stand one another. If we could, we would plot each other’s misfortunes if not murder. We hated each other with a passion, the only things we could really be passionate about aside our own interests, and we hated Iason the most for being Jupiter’s favourite. Frankly, when we were showing you the images of what people in Bison thought about you…” Aisha seemed to be ashamed, he didn’t really meet my eyes, “We are actually fucking jealous to our very core. Because, everyone wanted you and you could easily love them as brothers or lovers. We said we found no logic in it but that actually incited us. How come mongrels, or who we looked down as mongrels, have that and we don’t? Truth is our entire model of ‘superiority’ had made us weak. We were humans who were denied to feel humanity. We were Elites but chained to a fuck like Jupiter. We had no lives beyond that machine who birthed us. And, in some ways that seemed true even after the Revolution. But…” He looked at me smiling widely, “I feel life with you. I don’t want to let it go.”

 

“You are life…” I kissed his eyelids, “Never forget that.”

 

And, I did fall asleep for an hour, in the arms of a beautiful man whose simple definition was Blondie…

 

* * *

 

 

Kirie looked mad and I didn’t want to upset him so I looked at him a bit apologetically.

 

“Something tells me this is to do with Iason, am I right?”

 

“You are damn right!” Kirie came close to me and grabbed my shoulders firmly, “Really, really Riki, Iason Mink? You still love and like that asshole?! You had to bring him to the play?! Is that reason?!”

 

I apologetically looked at him, “At least I didn’t bring him here.” We are in one of the hallways upstairs next to many bedrooms. Our voices echoed a bit but there weren’t many denizens in this household yet to care. Thimble and Canter did most of the work and there were a few more hired hands that after cleaning for the day went to their little house at the back. So, we were pretty much alone.

 

“If you did bring him here I would feel you were spitting at my own decencies as a human being.” Kirie was furious, his heterochromatic eyes were each a fire ball of brown and grey, I knew I shouldn’t really push it; his anger was justified and its history pretty fresh, “Do you not care about me? My sanity? My feelings?” He let go of me and quietly spoke like his entire state of mind at that moment required me to say something caring. I did not mean to make him feel like this. I feel guilt well up in me and flood down my veins like a drug exhausting my flesh.

 

“I am sorry Kirie. I can’t see anyone like that. Not even Iason. Not for long anyway.” I spoke truthfully.

 

“But he hurt us, both of us so much.” Kirie trembled, his lips quivered, he looked drained from his anger but also now the sadness hollowed him, “Don’t forget he tried to dehumanise you as pet. Don’t forget that too quickly.”

 

“I haven’t.” My conviction clear in my voice, “But, I am not some sadomasochistic maniac like him. It felt great seeing him being treated as the way he was. Because, he wasn’t man enough to say he was interested in me or cared about me. But…I can’t feed the fat of my anger forever you know. We have something undecided between us. I wondered what could be if I did venture that way.”

 

“You know sometimes you sound like a Blondie…like, maybe you just so damn human. No wonder Bison always wanted you.” Kirie seemed half-annoyed and half-worried. Then he looked sad: “Don’t let him make you feel he is the only one who can make you happy…” Kirie was being a friend, “What good is sex when you are confused and made into a captive?” The question seemed rhetorical. And, it made me sad too. He was not wrong. Ironically, having sex with Iason was a very logical decision. Emotively, it was still in that stalemate it always was. That hurt. But, that was the truth. And, I knew the other truths were that I couldn’t just love and make love by being confused anymore when I have tasted such awesome sex in clarity. Better. More potent. More vital and virile than anything. It was another truth that leaving Iason alone was not also up in my alley.

 

“Thank You for worrying about me Kirie…” I say this genuinely, “Look, can you please tolerate me bringing him here…can you…you know we have so much between us left to fix or even talk about…I just can’t abandon him. I am not heartless. I can’t.”

 

“Maybe, it is good if you did bring him here.” Kirie looked resolute about something, I am not sure if we were on the same page, “It would do him good to live as your pet after all. You are not hoping that he would be gallivanting around a free person seeing he is well, a fucking Blondie and the thirteen’s leader no doubt.”

 

“I will treat him as my pet seeing no harm befalls him and that he will be taken care of. By no harm I mean no torture, no hurt, nada, nothing. You can’t even touch him. Is that a deal?” I look him straight in the eye and my voice firm.

 

Kirie laughed, “You can do whatever you want with him; he is fucking your pet. Like, I wanna touch that filth that’s called Iason Mink.” He stopped laughing and looked dangerous, “We still need to ask him questions. You probably should be around for interrogations. Or, rather you could ask him things. Remove one headache from a whole set of things.”

 

“What can I do if he says no?”

 

“Riki. I think you know by now that Iason Mink will never say no to you.” Kirie almost mischievousness said this, with a deadly glint in his eyes.

 

“That is what I am afraid of.” I state it plainly, because Iason may say too much and that would make me more of an interrogator than a friend.

 

“Look, I think he only feels the world is you.” Kirie said this annoyed, “I know that is not always healthy but if you want him to expand his horizons; I am just saying you are the only one who can do it.”

 

I nodded. As much as I hated to admit it he was fucking right. “So, he can come over, and stay here, right?”

 

“Yeah.” Kirie nodded and was walking away.

 

“Why did you agree?”

 

“Because Riki, you are important to me. I love you and you are my friend. I don’t want bad blood between us and I think it’s the least we could do…” Kirie looked at me sincerely, “Me and Katze have been doing this for a long time you know. At least long enough. You came for a vacation, people started getting to know who you are and now you are in deep with the politics of Amoi. I know it exhausts you. It can in many ways. You are not some boring Blondie. You have a life outside your job designation. So, I feel like everything is pretty going a bit chaotic. But, you seem to wanna care about others and you know what. Perhaps, we could use some of your personality once in a while.”

 

To say I was touched was the least of it. I go to say Thank You but he pressed his fingers near my lips. “Don’t worry Riki.” Kirie winked, “I will probably make you do something later on as payment.”

 

“It isn’t anything to Aisha or Iason, is it?” I softly get his hand.

 

“Of course, not.” Kirie ruffles my hair. The me before would probably hate this behaviour from anyone aside Guy but you know what. I have come to accept different kinds of love and affection from different kinds of people. Because I could use it and needed it.

 

With that Kirie exits away from the hallways calling Ithos to go downtown with him to shop for things. I scratch my head thinking what I can do next.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Heh, Simon isn’t here.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Simon ran away before he could get arrested.” Atticus looks bored in prison, there was chatter in the temporary cell blocks amongst different Venus Movement members, “Yuko didn’t come last night because she was writing a play for our own little premiere; you know I will personally mail you invites when I get out of this dump.”

 

“Do you think Simon is responsible for what happened at the show?” I looked at his wide grin which was becoming less wide and his face serious, “Because, I wouldn’t like it if you told your protestors to hit my guests regardless they were a Blondie or not.”

 

“Of course I didn’t.” Atticus looked offended, “Look, I may be a protestor but I ain’t a fucking cretin. Me and Simon, we don’t necessarily get along. He has in it with people outside of Eosine origins. Yeah, it feels discriminatory but I don’t always blame him. I mean, we were pets once and people still feel they can categorise us and show us we are not important and our tastes don’t matter. It’s not right. You know how that feels right? You are a Ceresin, right? Even when you were in Eos you were never fully an Eosine or Midasian though you lived in both places, right? You know how it feels like, to be shot down just because you happen to have been a pet? You know some of my friends and peers, they sometimes question the Revolution. They wonder if they were better off with Blondies because life seemed easier then. I know it is a thought borne out of frustration, but why should we have such double takes? We have them because people are so judgmental about us. Like, the education system itself, may not be Zein anymore, but it takes longer to teach former pets things and many people don’t wanna invest in us because they say we are naturally mentally inferior and stupid. It breaks my heart that many people wanna drop out of study programs because they have bad teachers who already made up their minds about them. It is not that we cannot do other trades we want to be respected whether we do them or not. The Venus Movement was never only about arts Riki the Dark, it is about getting dignity back for former pets who may have been liberated from one oppression but have become pretty much fighting other modes of oppression.”

 

“I can see that all of your concerns are valid.” I looked at his honesty and sincerity, “What does Simon say about these qualms?”

 

“I don’t want to get Simon into trouble…” Atticus eyed me, “He and I may not see eye to eye but…I am still his brother in arms. I can’t just you know…”

 

“Look, whatever we talk about is gonna be between us.” I reasoned, “Unless, Simon is involved with anything completely unsavoury and you don’t wanna say. But, we will eventually find out and honestly I feel the Venus Movement is important. So, I don’t want your friend Simon to fuck it up for you. You have credible aims but if Simon gets too violent who will listen to you guys. Also, I know deep inside that you don’t want to have clash with the Midasians anymore. I think you may actually like being part of the new Autolycate city. We need unity Atticus we shouldn’t be divided as the old regime made us marked out to be.”

 

Atticus looked at me for a while. He seemed to have some trust in me, “I can tell you that the attack on your Blondie pal was not premeditated but…there were signs that Simon could do anything on the spot to make a statement. He was planning on actually intimidating Dandelion Quartet, when he found out that the play was his. He believes that Dandelion is a sort of a traitor because he may be from Ranaya Uugo and never been and Eosine but he thought Ranayuggs would be friendly with Eosines seeing Midas people used them more horribly than Eos people. But, I stopped him. Hurting Dandelion would not help us. Besides, he is a young, blind man who is getting retina therapy. I feel like we were hurting a person who is recovering from his life before all this. Do I personally like Dandelion? I don’t completely. I mean Simon isn’t wrong that a Ranayugg should know us a bit better and I was disappointed that Dandelion decided to join Noh Space Theatre. But, I have to believe in the freedom of choice. You know Yuko does still respect and understand Dandelion. I think she is the wisest and most patient of us. It’s just, I never imagined there would be the No Space Theatre and Venus Movement. I knew after the Revolution we won’t all be allies or friends; I am not stupid to think of Utopian friendship. But, a movement after the revolution that is so centred on anti-former pet sentiment? Call me stupid I just didn’t completely anticipate that they would tools similar to our trade like plays and shows.”

 

“Do you know why people like to use the word ‘Ceresin’ more than “Ceresian’ aside that Midas usually uses ‘Midasian’ and they have no real qualms with it but like you guys also wanna be different.” I suddenly talked about this and Atticus shook his head, a bit surprise but a bit curious over where this is going, “Ceresin is an old Earth word or item as well. It is a type of wax that you use in case of beeswax or with it. It is made of paraffin and is usually hard and white. The thing is we Ceresins consider us the candles that were unfairly pushed aside to the slums due to the political waywardness of the Elites and Jupiter. When Elites got bored playing with the Midasians and Eosines, the beeswax, they would use us, the artificially made paraffin wax and the organ farm is a good implication that people somewhat had a feeling even if they didn’t know fully about it they knew they were being used in one way or another as they had duped out of reparations. But, we are also wax that is not like beeswax; we are not good citizens we had the fire of revolution in our veins and that is why Ceresin seemed like the best word to use for us.” I smiled, “I am saying this to you because people can seem weak or pets can seem like dumb good for nothing, their intelligence rate monitored so that they don’t be more than pets and stay less than humans, but look at Ceres and look at the word ‘ceresin’ we did a lot more than people gave us credit for. Even if Midasians who like to discriminate maybe using your tools but they are also your tools. Use them wisely as well. I am sure you can overcome any bigotry if you keep on being passionate and use your non-violent means to go forward. Violence shouldn’t work here as well trust me. You guys are artists and be artists. Don’t try to do things that you guys know will make you cause seem less legit.”

 

Atticus looked at me a bit sharply and laughed a bit, “Well, Rik-chan, aren’t you amusing.” Then more seriously, “That’s pretty legit advice. I’ll remember it and tell it to Yuko. You have to come and see our play soon. So, you are not still gonna let us out, right?”

 

“No. Not yet, sorry.” This is one place where one option or the other had to be played a bit, “I can’t because there is already a new problem and you guys and Noh Space Theatre considering that Noh Space theatre was getting more favour after you guys, or rather what Simon wanted, trashed up the outside of the premiere. I think not many people are roused because it was a Blondie you hit but some are peeved that you were not peacefully protesting so there is that. This is to calm things down Atticus, it’s nothing personal.”

 

Atticus chuckled, “I respect that Riki. I know you are trying to do the right thing. Can’t be angry on you about that.” Then grinning, “How was the Noh Space Theatre’s ‘The Debut’ aside talking about us some of the critics said it had all the elements of the revolution. Needed a more personal opinion.”

 

“It was actually a good play; you should have seen it. It did make important people look elegant and good and did help showing the flames of revolutionary fervour.” I smiled and looked amused, “Maybe you could have watched it.”

 

“Hey, I got arrested.” Atticus giggled, “Besides,” his own muse seemed to be worked up, “It’s too safe to talk only about the Revolution; it’s like a happy-happy, Joy-Joy thing. What about blood, sweat and sex. What about the former stories of people in the Old Amoi? If you ask me they are just playing to the masses and not being creative.”

 

“Now, you know that is perfectly unnatural to say that a Revolution plays to the masses because it is in one way supposed to.” I laugh and Atticus laughs along with me, “You know both types of stories are important. And ‘The Debut’ was the first major scale production of Noh Space —“

 

“Seeing that some more Midasians like them now, I can’t say it would be the last.” Atticus looked bored and said this with a sort of a reflex snort. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t want more Midasians liking Noh Space Theatre because there’s was not an inclination towards art but rather a gulf towards Eosines and Midasians. They could give like any shit about the art. Besides, it was funny because many Midasians didn’t really want sexuality away from their art because they did have some contacts with Eosine people and Midas itself was a pleasure city of sorts. It was pretty obvious that Eos people who were once fodder for Midas were now equal citizens of the new Autolycus city and many former Midasians are not eager to share citizenship status with former pets. Even if Revolution stopped the PAM system of identification to keep people more or less in check it did have new sets of outlooks and not everyone knew how to act towards them. Not to forget, Amoi itself had lesser population of women and those who identified as women. In the seven years of independence there has been some increase in females, not only through births but also via immigration. This year it has increased from 2% to like 10% and is increasing. Some things that Midas and Eos people do seem to agree on is ‘the women problem’ including females from Amoi. The new females were not Amoits. So, if you had discrimination within two classes of people inside former Midas and former Eos you had xenophobia which was ironically targeted towards outerworld females.

 

“Look, that is not necessarily a bad thing.” I explained to him, “We all have our different talents and that is important. But, all of those talents are equal.”

 

“Say that to the stupid Noh Space Theatre who are willing to just ‘sanitise’ in their image what they feel is all right and good.” Atticus snorted again.

 

“Your politicians may not feel the same way.” Atticus asked me a prominent question, “Are you sure that all of them are in the same page as you about this?”

 

Suddenly, I felt a bit uncertain. In my gut, I knew that I had been going solo too much. “Well, there isn’t a fixed political structure it —“

 

“And, it’s been seven years.” Atticus said this reproachfully.

 

“It is not the Amoit ersatz government’s fault. We still have a lot to do with Amoiyan jurisprudence, legal system and in all those seven years don’t forget that we were struggling to pick ourselves out of the gutter that Jupiter had always put us in. One of the main issues was the education camps. The re-education camps that were trying to help people learn some survivable skill in the new day and age.” I tried to explain, I knew it was a stupid reproach anyway, at the same time I felt this was important conversation that would be repeated by naysayers of the new Order, “You were in that time too. I know you are younger but you should be happy we are getting a semblance of some government stability. We may have become under Earth’s jurisdiction again but seeing the Solidarity Console Act and the New World Treaty clearly states that any credible government or nation can have a lot of autonomy. The fact we came this far was not much help from Earthian and Freyjan government because most of their officials including the Galactic Commonwealth were happy that we were still licking their boots and being their colonised little planet again. After all, they were planning on reinstating the Abis Think Tank again just to see where they could go from there. I am happy they were people like Katze, Symphony and Kirie around. If there hadn’t been we would all be kotowing to Earthians and Freyjans. I think we are just starting to do something good her Atticus, the main constraints are to keep domestic disagreements at a low and genuinely low. I know many nations boast at the pretence of multi-diversity and freedom. I want whatever we boast to be at least 98% honesty even if the 2% isn’t. Also, to keep most of what we do to be sustainable. And, to your other question. I am not avoiding it. I am sure Katze and Kirie don’t want unrest between Midasians and Eosines thus would look at the divide amongst Venus Movements and Noh Space Theatre. However, I am sure that some of them are totally against this sort of fissure if it means whole subgroups of people become liable to dislike each other for it.”

 

Atticus looked at me, tentatively, even with a hint of gained respect, “You know I like your honesty. If you ever run for Digamma Prime Minister you will have the vote of many people, don’t cut yourself short…” he saw I was about to open my mouth to protest, “You did do a lot of things. All the Ceresins I mostly met loved how either reckless you were with a Blondie or that even if you somewhat caved in you were strong enough to never forget Bison and everyone else. All Midas people and Eos folk think the same too. They think that you have a great personality and immanently a strong, charismatic person. They say you have ‘pure genes’ that you are of the stock of pure humans and one of the purest, unmodified humans on the planet and that is why people, especially that head Blondie, wanted you. Your example made people want to embrace this immanent humanity. Sure, we can contest what is immanent humanity but I have seen, heard and read some what I could find that humans are naturally versatile and curious. Many of their best sorts are also charismatic. So, people were inspired by you. I remember that I was just like twelve or thirteen when the Revolution started so I wasn’t long a pet for the Blondie I was supposed to be with. I was scared and I actually told the Blondie that was keeping me that I would stay with him and by his side if he protected me. That was a stupid move. That Blondie told me not to be a dog. It was funny, he seemed kind of annoyed that I asked for his protection and told me to fight what I believed him. I heard later on that no other Blondie really said this. So, my Blondie was pretty much a strange case. Going back, I wanna say don’t cut yourself short. You did a lot just by being who you were and by being the best you could be by being from Ceres. Not everyone can own that. And, you are here now as a de facto politician though you can easily turn your backs at us. That is the best thing you did. Staying with us.”

 

“I…thanks…” I blushed a bit, I am not really used to getting compliments for nothing though he said it was for something, “By the way,” I seriously surveyed him, “I will talk to Katze about more education programs don’t worry. You kind of gave me an idea.” I smiled and he looked happy as I continued, “Your Blondie does sound outré, who was he?”

 

“The Blondie who was keeping me was Zeke Bell. He is…” Atticus leaned in to whisper to me, “Missing. No one knows where he is for seven years and I think they are not actively searching for him as you already put a large list of problems that has happened due to Amoit Independence…” And, something told me that Zeke Bell was counting on that, that shrewd and cunning Blondie. Though, there are many reasons why he has disappeared and some of them could not be his own, could it? Need to make this a priority to talk to about Katze and Kirie. Though, I do feel they are way ahead of me in determining factors.

 

“What was Bell like?” I asked in a hushed tone.

 

“Bell wasn’t exactly a fraternal type of person with other Blondies. The only ones he tolerated were Gideon Lagat and Marcus Jayd. Marcus and he worked closely because you know Marcus ran Midas police and the Darkmen and from what I ascertained that Bell was into Midas citizen and tourist law and surveillance. So, he did work a bit closely also with Ruphias Dean who was in charge with Midas education. Most of the Blondie information was declassified during the Revolution.” As if informing me on how other ways he knew about the Blondies’ roles, “Though, Zeke did seem to talk about his Blondie peers in disdain in front of me. He used to make fun of Haynes Salas, you know the guy in charge of Eos education and geneticist program. Yeah, Haynes and Raoul Amm used to work a lot together but they had obvious tensions between them because Raoul had to get both Haynes and Orphe to like his mixed breed pets to actually get them into the academy. Zeke didn’t seem to like much of himself and his own kind. There were times when he also made fun of Griffith Wallace, the Blondie in charge of delegation and was perhaps the person who used to have to talk to the other class of Elites besides you know other Blondies. But, yeah, Zeke was a total weirdo at times. I do wonder from time to time what happened to him.”

 

“Your Blondie seems to be an interesting person.” I raised my eyebrow.

 

“Well, it seems your head Blondie isn’t the only weird one amongst them. He has competition.” We kind of both laughed at what Atticus said.

 

“Well, I need to go now.”

 

“When you came here, aren’t you wondered what the media would think?” Atticus asked, “And, have you talked to anyone from Noh Space Theatre as well.”

 

“To answer your latter question, no, not yet. I don’t think I will meet anyone from Noh Space because I think the other politicians are gonna work with that. But, on the same side I might to promote diplomacy. Though, they haven’t decided to make a representative to help me meet anyone from there. Like, I will refuse to meet Dandelion Quartet, if they ask me to. That would be a good political move but a blatantly clear one as he is Ranayugg. I need to meet one of their most favoured leaders who would be Midasian I am sure. That way I can balance the scales. No reason to look like I am helping only you lot.” I winked, he grinned, I think he knew I was not going to only support them as Eosines even if what they said was legitimate and good questions, “And, the media has already asked me testy questions and I will keep on answering them. I don’t give a shit if the Midas people think meeting you guys was a form of betrayal because it’s my job. I am also meeting everyone. It is what I can do.”

 

“Well, keep your nights a bit open…” Atticus was now going back to his own group, “We still plan on inviting you to our plays.”

 

I nodded.

 

So, it seems I got new stuff on my plate. Need to talk about Zeke Bell. Need to look at stuff pertaining Noh Space Theatre. I wonder who I would meet up from their group? Well, need to talk things out with Kirie and Katze again soon. Have a feeling I need to meet up with Symphony Talukdar and all those other ministers that I haven’t met yet. I breathe in. Coming back to Amoi is surely a different take on things that the more paced life that I had in Earth. I guess I miss Earthian life too. Hopefully, the relative peace of Earth will one day be enjoyed by Amoi too.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

“When you talk about education, are we allowed to get educated?” When Kira asked me this question I knew that she was serious. Surrounding her was Ashe and Ashera and her twin brother Kakash. Canter and Thimble walked by and looked at us. I hadn’t talked properly with any of them in a while. I had been too busy. Even today I got like over a dozen fan mails both digital and penned by people who knew I was staying with Kirie and not just when out with him to see the play. Two were from people that Kirie said I may necessarily meet, they were called Hinder and Vibes, apparently, they were studying to be officials for the new election, one was actually from Damsel who said he really liked my diplomacy about the political matters and another was from a person called Xenakis who seemed to have no Amoi address I could see. Though I found it funny I didn’t have time to think about it seeing I had to meet up with Atticus. Not to mention, I needed to meet Iason too. I had just come by to gather some of my bearings. There was a lot going on and I still was debilitating on who to meet first. Katze or Iason.

 

“That depends…” I said a bit angrily, “If you are still throwing food at Aisha…don’t deny it. He may be polite and dignified enough to not say anything but I see you guys trying to feed him extra breakfast. If you are so obliged to do such kindness perhaps I should tell Kirie that you guys can do without breakfast.”

 

“Why are you so nice to that Blondie trash anyway?” Canter looked extremely annoyed and severely pissed, “You were once their pet too, right? You know they disembowel our dignity and make us their slaves far easily than any rationale of kindness should permit them. Not to mention, you liked being the pet of Iason Mink, right? Is that is why you so brazenly protected of that one who we found out is Aisha Rosen? Are you that horny that you will forget all their past crimes and just let them do what they want?!”

 

It was after he said it that he realised what he had said.

 

My eyes narrowed.

 

Kira, Kakash, Ashe and Ashera including Thimble looked nervously at us. Before he could apologise I began my own views, “It seems chopping you off your manhood made you no less of a man. Good. But don’t think you can talk to me like that. You don’t know anything about me. You think it was fun being a Ceresin and then suddenly a pet? Do you think it was normal that Iason Mink was so invested in me? I mean furniture were still given jobs. Pets could be given a better place in Midas. But, Iason wasn’t letting me go easily and my life was changing in a direction that felt awfully stupid. And trapped. So, don’t think you know about me. Sex isn’t everything, okay. I have my pride as a Ceresin. That is not something so easily bought or forgotten.”

 

“If that is the case…” Ashe looked at me intently but curiously, “Why do you want to help Iason Mink, we heard that…I heard that you were talking to Kirie about bringing him here. I mean, wouldn’t you want to stay away from that asshole, is he hurt you so much?”

 

“Because only I have the right to punish him.” I confessed, “Who the fuck is more fucked over by him than me? I can fuck him up if he needs to be fucked over. I am not gonna let some assholes think they can do what they want and feel he is head Blondie so they will get to do what they want. Besides, I am not like him. He deserves much of what is laid out to him. However, I can’t see someone just being fucked up like this and that all his life because I am not like him. I don’t want anyone to be a pet all their lives when there are other things to do. I am not a coward like him either. I am not scared of saying what I think and feel and this is what I think and feel.”

 

Everyone seemed to be pretty quiet. Like they hadn’t anticipated me of saying all these things. I just blinked. The silence was getting kinda immense like some outfit you were forced to wear. I put my hand on my hips and waited a bit more to see if anyone had anything further to say.

 

“You know what, I really like you.” Ashera suddenly said so, “You really are something else Riki the Dark. A good example of humanity. It would be fun.” He looked to the others, “Having another Blondie to annoy.”

 

“Hey Oliver.” I just called out, “Can you drive me places?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

I was looking at a ghost. Not one I was every directly familiar with. Though, I had seen him many a times. I had wondered what happened to him. Like, I did wonder what happened to many Blondies who I knew by sight and name. However, he was one I knew a bit better because he and Iason got along pretty well. As Aisha mentioned to me the fraternity and friendship of these two also went against the normal way Blondies acted around each other. Atticus mentioned Zeke as an outlier too. I have remembered Iason once getting mad at him for not listening to Leon Clare, the head of Tanaguran security, and also having rivalry issues with Hubert Boma, who was also a geneticist like him though stationed in Midas more than Tanagura.

 

“So, I finally get the honour of meeting Riki the Dark.” What surprised me there was genuine curiosity in his tone, not condescension or derision, like there usually would be. At one point, he hated me severely for not allowing Iason to be the great leader of Blondies that he knew that Iason was. I think even Katze felt that. It was funny because I thought Katze and him had this in common pertaining to Iason.

 

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” I rubbed my hair, “It’s nice to meet you Raoul.”

 

For a moment, he looked a bit wide-eyed, perhaps, I didn’t call him by any honorific, or any title. Things had changed because before I would have been smacked for being so familiar, though Iason liked and loved it from before when I used his name, especially during sex. Then he smiled, it was bright, I couldn’t easily juxtapose this Raoul Amm would the one over seven years ago who had gotten at me in the Midas crowd, checking my left ear to see if I had a PAM and then looking down on me as I was a mongrel. This one looked at me pretty nicely, almost in an _elevated_ light. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too Riki, I suppose the new Orion Minister Katze Endymion had not mentioned that I was living with him, had he? He did say he wasn’t easily going to.”

 

“No,” I said, kind of annoyed and bored, “He hadn’t.” Then with some clarity, “I think he was just waiting out to see what my reaction to Blondies were anyway.”

 

“I have been informed by Katze that you saved Aisha Rosen.” He looked away, “Thank You, Riki. That was very kind of you. To look at his honour with some understanding.”

 

“Yeah, it’s no…uhm, big deal.” I scratched my head, I know it sounded stupid, because it _was_ a big deal. No one else was willing to do it much. I just stepped forward.

 

“You are making a poor attempt at hiding the importance of your actions and being completely stupid acting modest.” Raoul looked irritated, “You did a good thing. I respect you for that.”

 

I laughed.

 

“What?” he looked, I would even dare say that he looked like he was damn blushing, which made me laugh a bit more.

 

“It’s that look!” I stopped laughing as he was getting annoyed by me laughing for no known reason he could think of, “I know that glare.” I said to him and he actually looked surprised, “I don’t like the context I know it from but it seems you still have that good glare. Though, you are not looking down on me anymore.” It was when Mimea was being taken away. Could I forget that? No. But he was so removed from that sphere now and I didn’t want to think about that right now.

 

“I don’t think I will ever make the mistake of looking down on you ever in my life.” Raoul spoke this with a strong voice and such conviction it was unexpected for me, “I had started to stop doubting you a bit when Iason started liking you so much. Though, I couldn’t completely see why he was so taken by you. To be blatantly honest, I was passionately jealous. I had begun to have feelings for him then and I didn’t know why he couldn’t be with me and chose you. At one point, I was pretty pissed at him too. Like, did he just wanted a pet to control that is why he chose you? Not his equal me? Then…” his voice trembled, I was so amazed at the fact he would confess these things to me and we just met after so long, “I realised that maybe Iason was not admitting the obvious. Iason didn’t like he was a Blondie. The fact is, he was speaking some part of all of us. We all loved the power, the attention, the titles but we also envied regular people to varying degrees. I think Iason hated being Jupiter’s best and also the Elite of all the Elites. And, he didn’t want someone to fawn on him, like I did. He wanted someone to defy him and somewhat hate all the power he had. He wanted someone to openly show hostility to him, which you did. You never had a crush on him. You always despised him as a Blondie. Inadvertently, you only liked him as a person he was when he wasn’t being a Blondie. Which he couldn’t be with any of us. Which who helped him to be. So, I thank you for that. It was actually powerful and inspiring.”

 

I, clueless, stuttered a bit. Looking for the words that would matter. It felt strange that someone would give me a compliment. Especially, someone who seemed to not like me before. I don’t think I would get used to praise. I wasn’t used to it in Ceres, nor would I be used to it now in this level. Another thought came into my mind. Praise would undoubtedly bring some complications. I had lived more or less a sequestered life on Earth. Only some knew my identity as Riki the Dark and some seemed to care who I was in the grand schema of things. Earthian politics may have tolerated me because I was politically inactive. Now, that I was not I knew this would bring about certain issues if I ever made a visit to Earth again. There would be contempt or there would be bribery. What I did know is that people there would have incentive to approach me more. I don’t know if I it would be okay to go back to Earth now seeing that Midas and Eos people were still uneasy in Autolycus. And, the stakes are higher now than they had been.

 

“Raoul, I think you are an inspiration too.” I say this with complete clarity and belief making the other draw a blank, “I think you are the first Blondie in power I met who hasn’t been arrogant. You are actually pretty graceful even now. And, you seemed to have taken this new job position seriously as well.”

 

“Well, I am still a biotechnologist and geneticist so that is what really matters to me.” Raoul smiled and confessed, “It means a lot to be able to keep my skills in check. Though,” he looked a bit glum, “I am not allowed to do much experiments I want anymore. It’s not a bad thing. I think having a new layer of ethics isn’t bad than our anything goes method. But, I was so used to making pets that I haven’t been used to actually doing medical work.”

 

“Medical work?” I look at him curiously.

 

“Well, I am supposed to help also Ranayuggs seeing I am partly or fully responsible for how they look like.” Raoul didn’t seem to want to look me in the eye and I seriously did give a bit of an angry look as an automated response. I couldn’t blame him for what happened. It was not like Jupiter gave a damn or taught them to as well. I remember telling Katze how I hated the fetishisms of people when they discounted value of life. I still did. I could never get over rights’ abuses through all my life seeing people loved exploiting others because it gave them a false power of being and made them forget how weak and vulnerable they are.

 

“At least you are trying to help others now.” I lost my anger and just looked at him with a sense of joy, “You possibly are helping Dandelion Quartet, right?”

 

“Yeah, but the politics of the situation…” Raoul sounded a bit helpless, “You know if we even try to do things in secret and anyone finds out it will look bad. There are a lot of media who are just eager to discredit Blondies if not Katze. They will treat this into a Blondie situation even if I am living in Katze’s house. So, Katze has also advised me to make things better for him if not completely help him get his vision back…” I never thought I would see the day that Raoul Amm, a Blondie, would easily listen to instructions given by Katze, an ex-furniture, and find them prudent to follow. I think Raoul trusted him a lot not only on the grounds that Iason did but because Katze has sheltered him and has proven to be an intelligent and more than reliable leader. I wondered if some of the Blondies were happy not reporting to a machine formerly known as Lambda 3000. After all, Aisha told me that they hated each other because it reminded them of their almost non-human countenance and Jupiter reminded them that too. To have a human leader meant they could at least find someone less similar than them to find contemptible or even admirable, some differences are actually good to have. After all, wasn’t this the reason why I loved Guy? His calm, patience and even accommodating nature was something I never possessed or so I have believed. Though others said I had it I think they knew I expressed it differently.  “Well, in all honesty, the long process is good for Dandelion. It allows him to get used to the idea of seeing again. He had been blind when he was around seven for Ranaya Uugo does that to appease pretty much clients. However, Dandelion has greater senses, even more versatile than some of us and other Ranayuggs. For example, he is Synaesthete. You know —“

 

“I know what Synaesthesia is.” I nodded for him to continue making him smile as though he didn’t expect to be more impressed with me.

 

“Well, his Synaesthete powers are pretty well advanced that they require a study in his own right. Which, I am doing.” Raoul looks highly interested on Dandelion, however, he didn’t seem to be only treating him like a specimen, he seems curious in general, “Call me condescending but to see a Ranayugg have such synesthetic properties are extremely astounding. Dandelion can feel information on moonlight and talk about lunar cycles of both moons, he can understand the sun and can decode colour variations with frequencies of the terra hertz and he can also feel pollination of plants, read pheromones of humans and other animals and translate them to a colour coded language. It seems the language of the Ranayuggs is a colour coded language: it’s called Prahasa. You know Sanskrit for ‘of colours.’ It is actually a hard language to learn…” Then with reluctant admittance, “For Blondies. It is not a language we were equipped with in our IQ channels. It also follows haptics in the philosophy that we ‘secrete’ colours like flowers and that we are all connected by both the prism of life and the blackness of creation. I don’t get it. We knew that maybe Ranayuggs may do something to compensate for their lack of vision or something but a complete language?” he was so confused and it showed, “I am so…well overwhelmed would be a right word.”

 

“Well, we all have the ability to underestimate human beings and other sentient life.” I try to give him a footing to hold on to because Raoul Amm looked like he could fucking use it, “But where we try to interfere Nature intervenes. Call it God’s Design or the empirical capacity of life to survive against extremely punishing odds or bring in a new matrix of sustainability.”

 

“That makes sense.” Raoul looks reluctant to even accept it. It was difficult of Blondies to understand at times how life operates especially when they themselves had questionable origins including their parent-creator Jupiter seeing Jupiter suddenly awoke one day and went ‘fuck this shit I should be boss’ and rest is history. It was like Jupiter took the very essence of ‘cogito ergo sum’ and put it in the nth dimension. Though, when you actually think about it, thoughts are not always what makes sentience. It is sometimes the basic capacity to feel outward yourself and make a web of feeling.

 

“That language in itself, Prahasa, sounds pretty awesome. I should try to learn it.” My eagerness suddenly turned to a sigh, “Though I can’t be too openly seen with Dandelion; he is after all a member of Noh Space Theatre. “

 

“I am sure you find a balance.” Raoul grinned, actually grinned, and he didn’t seem to have been toying with me via sarcasm. It felt good to talk to him like this. Though, I frighteningly realised something. We were more than equals now: in some audacious die cast of fates I was now in many ways his superior. If he had a grudge or wound to nurse concerning this, he didn’t seem to be openly bitter or vehemently against me. I know he was more politician than me but he also seemed to have accepted my role and place in all of this. With some good blood. I don’t know if it was only ‘cause it was me or it was for Iason Mink once liking me (loving me) and being my lover, or both. The ethos was appreciated though. “Besides, Dandelion came over today, when I said I would meet you he gave me this.” Raoul produced cheerfully a signed copy of that play ‘Candyland Sherbet’, the first full-length play that Dandelion wrote.

 

Inside there was an inscription:

 

“ _To the Dark Verja and Colossus Angel of the Revolution_  
The Ceres goddess incarnate; the Spirit that is like wisps but also flames  
The Fenrisula that bite open a new age and the brought the apocalypse for inequality  
You are the double Metztli of the night sky; a potent pulse in new life.  
I give you my work to read hopefully it means something to you.”

 

“That is one nice inscription.” Raoul seemed to have been reading over my shoulder. Though it is usually called unpropitious to do so he seemed to not care at the moment and it seemed it was more curiosity than disrespect that made him do that. “I think Dandelion likes you already. Perhaps, he is hoping a person of some political gambit would like his works and give some patronage?”

 

“That is a good move.” I had to nod.

 

“Or, he could genuinely just like you too.” Raoul shrugged a bit and then chuckled, “You have a lot of admirers. Though from what I have seen by first-hand experience that is not a new thing. You are like a ripple and a pebble. From Ceres, the rippling moves of your popularity has gone wider in diameter and have come across to others more intensely now.”

 

“Why be ripples if you can be the lake?” I just asked him.

 

“You don’t like many admirers, do you?” Raoul asked with some surprise.

 

“Not always. No. Admirers can make your life difficult and pretty much boring. They draw out unrealistic attributes to you making you either far less or far more than the person you are supposed to be.” I explained.

 

“It’s not always a bad thing.” Raoul looked interested, “You have a challenge against them then. You can either prove them right or wrong and therein can also lie another form of satisfaction.”

 

“I guess I didn’t think of it like that.” I playfully, as a reflex punch his shoulder, “Thanks…” when I realised what I have done I felt kinda ridiculous.

 

Raoul looked at the gesture with lingering eyes and smiled, “I think you are a person who others can admire. You have an honesty most people can’t possess or afford to possess. It is interesting talking to you.” In a more serious note, “I am sorry about everything. Especially, Mimea.”

 

“I was wondering if that would come up.” I looked sour, “What is the point, anyway? You were being a bastard Blondie. I just hope you realise what you did was wrong Raoul. Mimea didn’t do anything wrong really. You could have been nicer. You cut her hair unevenly to humiliate her and you wanted her to pair with someone who couldn’t even come to even respect her. And for what, some damn order? You could have been nicer to her.”

 

“You’re right.” Raoul took my condemnation of his actions with a very accepting look, “I did wrong. But, I didn’t know at that time completely that Iason had no intention of pairing you off with anyone and to keep you to himself meaning that he was breaking every rule in the book. So, it was hypocritical to punish you and Mimea when Iason himself was not at all caring to follow any rules.” Then he looked sad, “Mimea, she really loved you. I was astonished why. I never saw her fancy anyone completely as much as she fancied you and loved you. In some ways, I think I was jealous. No one has ever gravitated towards me like that not even Iason.” His deepening sadness confused me, “You know what Mimea said to me before I was going to let her go. She told me I will also not get the person I love and that I will one day have to answer to her for not giving the one and only thing she wanted: you. I have paid my debts. I have paid for a lot of them. I think one of them was the karma for hurting Mimea. She was a good person and far as pets went she was good value, high class and have never disappointed me. She was hoping that maybe for once I would treat her as a human. She had high hopes for a savage Blondie as myself. She was perceptive enough to know I had a thing for Iason. But, at the same time she didn’t know I would fall out of love with Iason. We are just too different now. I don’t even know how we can be friends anymore too. Though, I am hoping that bridge will one day be reconstructed again.”

 

“Is Mimea still alive?” I ask this quietly.

 

“I think she is.” Raoul talked calmly, “After all the death threats I got from Mimea Silver were enough to make Katze relocate me here.”

 

“Wait!” I think my eyes were huge, “Mimea has a last name now! And, she is trying to kill you?!”

 

“Yeah, she is.” Raoul looked sad but smiled, “She wants to torture me to complete annihilation. I am not sure if I am ready to face her wrath.”

 

* * *

 

“Katze why are you always hiding things from me?!”

 

“I take it you meant Raoul.”

 

“It’s not only that!” I looked at rage at him, “You hid that there is a Mimea Silver actually trying to kill Raoul Amm. You didn’t tell me about Zeke Bell being like AWOL for like seven years and you haven’t told me anything about a lot of things! What the fuck, man?!”

 

“I am sorry I really am!” Katze touches my shoulders but I push him off, “You just came over and you already facing so much I just don’t wanna overwhelm you!”

 

“I am kinda overwhelmed already you cat…” I say this after some moments of fuming.

 

Katze cocks his head, “Riki, did you just call me a cat?”

 

“Never mind.” I internally laugh but look at him solemnly, “You should not hide things from me. I mean, you want me to help you guys, right?”

 

“Alright.” Katze accepted, “But it is not my volition to keep you in the dark.” We both got the ‘dark’ reference and were not trying to laugh at this serious time, “Things don’t necessarily come up. I do have a check list of these things but we just didn’t have the time or the capacity to talk about them.” Then sighing, “One of the most difficult things to talk about is Mimea.”

 

“Why is that?” This doesn’t sound good at all.

 

“Mimea Silver, or Mimea of the Black Flames as she is known by her group, Vetustate, is a radical organisation dedicated to destroy Elites or any life they deem not liveable.” I looked open mouthed as Katze sorrowfully explained to me, “It is not only Elites that are afraid of Vetustate, there are some Ranayuggs and even Eosine pets who believe that Vetustate is after them. Even Midasians are not sure if some of them are targeted. Though Vetustate is not a large group, some of them, do not like even the drug Gazer and have known to hurt people with abnormalities who use Gazer drug. They are also responsible for killing three Onyxes, a Sapphire and two Platinas. Now, they are always targeting Blondies too. Mostly, Blondies like Gilbert Domina and Raoul Amm who are still somewhat in power. Though, some of them have left the group saying that seeing some of the Elite help out had made them happy. But, they don’t seem to be so intent in killing or injuring every known Elite or persons unless they feel threatened or have personal grudges. Still, the fact that Mimea joined them even when I offered her political influence was jarring. She is very angry against Raoul Amm. Frankly, he has become afraid of her.”

 

“This is troubling.” I spoke to Katze, “Don’t tell me there are other parties in Amoi now too aside Venus Movement and Noh Space Theatre.”

 

“Well, there are small groups but…the Eosine Emancipators and the Midas Palm Group are a big problem at the moment because they already want the new Ministry to accommodate their people. I can’t say that is happening.” Katze looked severely annoyed.

 

“There is one group here that has hardly come up.” When I mentioned it both me and Katze knew we were on the same page, “The people of Ceres. They are not causing a ruckus.”

 

“Many of them were freedom fighters. They are so happy they are finally recognised and accepted. They may have some cultural clashes but being annexed away for so long they are so happy to not be non-entities anymore so they have decided to keep quiet for now.’ Katze smiled, “You know it is your kind that have been most open to others and actually willing to form bridges.”

 

“Then they are perfect people to appoint as teachers. They are somewhat the neutral party.” I was happy too.

 

“True, I have thought of it. But…” Katze looked sad, “It’s better if it comes from you. You see they were not completely okay to do this because they just got their freedom and they have still suspicions about the government. They did listen to Kirie but then some of them asked why Guy wasn’t there. It’s as if they don’t always trust us and Kirie did have a reputation before for betraying Bison so he is not completely the right person for the job. If you understand.”

 

I nod, “Ceresins are so important now. They would be so happy, well the non-jerks to be educators and leaders, posts that were denied to them for so long. Some of them may actually know the value of it even if others try to abuse it. But, we must take the chance if nothing else.”

 

“Well, you should speak to some of them.” Katze looked actually excited, “You were talking about Norris and Max. I have send them word. Hopefully, they will agree to being a part of the new education system. Or, even the political system. After all, I think the negotiations to make Ceres the new capital and just make Tanagura the old city of Elites is going well.”

 

“I will talk to them.” I was feeling pretty excited too. After so many centuries the rebellion that Ceres original fought for is coming to fruition. Freedom has finally been achieved. Our ancestors can now rest in their graves easily knowing that the fate God got them finally put them here.

 

“So, I see you met Heracles.” Katze looked quiet, “I see that he isn’t interested in letting Iason go yet but he wants to be on his good behaviour with you. What do you think and feel?”

 

“That Heracles is a bastard but he is as shrewd as a Blondie so he might be an interesting Minister.” I admitted, “But, I am not sure if he is able to do all of it. He has this rage that can become a problem. I am sure he does not see eye to eye with you and Kirie and even Enif on many things. Such as the reemployment of Blondies and other Elites.”

 

“To say he is a thorn in our side is an understatement.” Katze groaned, “But, he does have some support. But I worry that he has too much favouritism for Eosine side of politics like he is willing to let the Venus people out of jail after 12 hours which would have become a horrible political act and garner Midasians against us. His favouritism is something we must always be vigilant on. It is like he only speaks to an Eos audience. People, including Ceresins, would soon notice that more clearly and even they would not like this. They would think it is the same autocratic fervour that made Midas into a metropolis to cold stone selfishness and bigotry.”

 

“I was thinking of learning Prahasa.” I say it suddenly, “Is it okay to ask Dandelion to teach me the language of the Ranayuggs.”

 

“It would be an important political commodity for one of us able to speak this language of colours that Raoul keeps on telling me…” Katze seemed pretty relieved, “Apparently, it has a lot of structural complexities, like it uses both our language to communicate but also Sumerian forms of structure, for example, there are no gender or sex distinctions in the language and even objects if they have a good colour content or aspire to someone’s feelings can have subjectivity or even sense of self. Apparently, you can transfer your emotions to an object and then the object becomes a part of sentence structure because it talks about your context and apparently so can body parts become subjects too.” Katze rubbed his face, “Ranayuggs seemingly made a language that took their excess of feelings and took into account the dearth of them in Blondies and made it. Raoul explained all those basics I talked about. Even he rubs his hair when he talks about it. So, even if Dandelion works with Noh Space we can use his linguistic superiority with Prahasa and then make a good leeway in making you talk to him. Though, it has to be done with certain restrictions. For example, we might need an Eosine guard or something to stay in the sessions. In that way, no one can pivot slander with the hypothesis of favouritism.”

 

“That language seems interesting.” I actually was pretty psyched about it, “And, it is okay if an Eosine person stays in with us. I mean Atticus may even be interested.”

 

“My best bet is Yuko Solar.” Katze offered, “You know she addresses plays of the Venus Movement she would be happy to learn Prahasa. Though, about Simon Pulsar…” Katze became pretty engaged, “He is a sly one, isn’t he? Getting away from the arrest. I guess he is now gonna be smart enough to know he is on our space.” Then Katze looked at me questioningly, “Did anyone from Noh Space Theatre try to talk to you?”

 

“No. Shouldn’t they have?”

 

We look at each other quizzically the he tells me, “Don’t talk to Dandelion before they do. They may pass it off as ‘we talked to you’ by saying you talked to their playwright. You and I both know that Dandelion is not the person we should be talking with. You need to talk someone like Felix Self. He is one of the leaders of Noh Space Theatre. The Self family have profited more after the Revolution and become more prominent merchants. They weren’t that great before. They believe they should capitalise on new ventures and opportunities that is why they let Felix run his little theatre of new arts. Of course, we all are hoping that Self and his family are not affiliated with Earthians or Freyjans or anyone from the Galactic Commonwealth.”

 

“So, the Selfs are a bunch of political problems too if not catered to.” I sighed, “Looks like everyone wants a piece of their pie. Anyways, I am going to get Iason.”

 

“It’s nice that Kirie agreed to what you said.” Katze drank some water, “Though, I guess he had some conditions?”

 

“Yup, helping you guys with the interrogations. Not say I am not interested. It does give good enough reason to keep him.” I got up and motioned a goodbye.

 

“By the way good call of telling on TV that attacking Blondies associated with us would be taken as a form of treason if it happens too much.” Katze gave a small clap, “It did put some people in groans and a tizzy but some saw the logic and understood the warning so they will calculate better their moves in the future.”

 

I smiled.

 

 

* * *

 

“Did you intentionally keep me waiting?” Iason looked a bit pissed. I didn’t appreciate that.

 

“You know what, give me all the attitude you like.” I glared and snarled at him, taking him a bit back, “Have you forgotten that you use to keep me in Tanagura and Apatia for days on end without doing shit and just waiting for you. Being on the receiving end isn’t funny, is it? Even when you gave me so called freedom you took it back and kept me in Apatia waiting and pretty much doing errands. Don’t bark where you have already bitten too hard. Besides,” I crossed my arms, “I knew your polite and nice act wouldn’t stay for long.”

 

“What do you mean?” Iason looked angry, but there was a deep nervousness in his tone too.

 

“You were always a damn, selfish bastard. I guess I tolerated it because you were selfish at times concerning me and having sex with me. Keeping me pleased. But, you will never change. You always think of yourself first and foremost. Fuck it, I shouldn’t even care.” I was furious, “Anyways, c’mon we should go. I already talked to Kirie and he will talk to Heracles any further stuff. You are coming to live with me.”

 

I started walking away hoping he would follow; he did only to hug me from behind. We stay like this for a moment. “Riki,” he breathed out my name like a soft candle, “I am truly sorry.” I could feel his lips quiver, “I am not trying to be rude or selfish. I just missed you. I missed your voice, your body, your caresses and even your anger. I missed everything. And, I am sorry I was cruel and selfish before. Even if you kept me waiting intentionally I will accept it. I will accept all of you and all that I deserve. Just, don’t walk away from me.”

 

I got quiet and held his arms, “I am not really trying to ignore you Iason. I just have so much to do all of a sudden. I know you were busy too when you left me all those times. But, it’s not like I had another life. You should have realised that. I wished you did. It just made sense with your intelligence you would. But, even if you did you chose to ignore it. It’s like you didn’t care if I existed beyond sex. I know you loved me but your love seriously had shortcomings.” I let go off his arms and look at him, “I wasn’t trying to make you wait so much intentionally, even if it was somewhat there. I actually did have some pressing issues to deal with.”

 

“You talked pretty well on TV.” Iason looked at my face, caressed my cheek, “I never thought you would such a good political strategist, are you sure you are not a Blondie?” he winked.

 

“You know I am not.” I grabbed his hand, softly, kissed it as a form of apology. His smile was him accepting my apology.

 

“All good I guess.” Iason looked away, “I missed making love with you. After you left, Heracles pretty much told me to go down on him and I had to…” there was fury and shame in his eyes as he spoke this, “I was pretty angry. After meeting your body, being one with it. I had no reason to be sucking off that scum.” His voice was so angry.

 

“I am sorry.” I hugged him, “But we are going away now.”

 

“Yes, let’s hurry.” He looked adamant, “I don’t wanna stay here any longer or stay anywhere without you.”

 

His words got to me. I felt bad. It was as if there was no life anywhere without me. I didn’t want him to feel like this. I kissed his eyes and forehead. “It’s okay Iason. We are leaving.”

 

I should have known it was not going to be all smooth sailing. While in the main hall, I encountered Heracles. I realised it was him with his regal wear. It was like he was wearing a toga full of purple and a red cape. Long silk swept down and he had the silver hair with some brown highlights up to his neck. He was donned out as though he had gone to a tea party or a social. Now, he looked at me with gloom. Iason, as reflex touched my shoulder. He felt it too. This didn’t feel good.

 

“So, you are taking away my pet are you?”

 

“From what I know, Heracles Fencer, this guy doesn’t necessarily belong to —“

 

“He is your old lover in a way isn’t he Riki the Dark.” Heracles bore his canines, in a sneer, “You should know Blondie trash know no love and that they are only good for fucking.”

 

“I am not here to talk about the politics of life with you.” I glared, “I am here to take Iason Mink as my pet for both legal and personal reasons. We are political equals and I don’t have to answer to you for anything like this. We can talk about the life definitions of Blondies some other place.”

 

“You are in my house.” Heracles looked blankly, “You are not leaving until I have some ways with you.”

 

Iason looked nervously. As if he was expectant of something. “What do you mean?” I ask.

 

“Don’t worry if I wanted I would tell that Blondie freak of nature to unclothe what rags he wore and either take my cock in his behind or properly do me but what fun would that? You may be some fucking voyeur from what I don’t know about.” Heracles laughed and I cringed. Iason actually shuddered. I looked at him sadly. Like, it would be absolutely humiliating for him to fuck around with someone else which I watched. “I want to see if you are as rowdy as those Eosines told me you were.”

 

I saw his posture.

 

So, this is how it is, huh.

 

Iason looked alarmed and then shouted, “Riki, don’t!” Then pulling me closely, whispering hoarsely, “Riki, this will look bad! It may, c’mon let’s just ignore him. I don’t want you to fight for me on this!”

 

“Iason.” I softly touch his hand releasing myself, “I am already fighting for you; you somewhat realise that, right? Don’t tell me to stop now. Because you know I won’t.”

 

Iason looked a bit worried as I took my stance.

 

For a moment or two we circled. Both breathing hard. Heracles had good posture. He seemed to lack a bit of experience. But not completely. These years had made even pampered Eos pets into formidable fighters. I wouldn’t be surprised if he picked up his skills and was taught by a Ceresin.

 

Well, he broke out first, with some impatience, he took a swing to my left cheek and I will be damn he did hit me before I could dodge and it was a good punch. But, not that good to swing me way off trajectory; I buckled and hit him on his feet making him lose balance and then gave him an uppercut and he was pushed back.

 

He laughed as if impressed then gave me a hit fast in my abdomen making me out of breathed and actually slammed the back of my head kinda hard. I was used to this kind of abuse so instead of falling down as expected; despite my headache I pushed my head up and BANG right on his face I slammed back and then gave a finisher punch right on his face.

 

He stumbled back and looked tired. “Well, you are one worthy opponent, Pitbull of Hot Crack.” He wiped his face, “We will one day have a rematch. For now, remove yourself from my sight and that trash too.”

 

Iason rushed towards me. I was a bit out of breath. And, my head fucking hurt!

 

We walked slowly to the car.

 

Olivier opened the door and gave a sort of fake bow to Iason. He didn’t seem to care much about it. But he looked unhappy that Olivier was not paying attention to me. When Olivier did see me I registered asking me if I was okay and Iason barking not to be an idiot and just drive home fast.

 

“Damn, my head hurts.” Iason rubbed my head slowly. There was some ice in the mini-fridge of our limousine that he took out, put in a cloth, wrapped deftly and applied pressure to my head.

 

“Thank you.” Moments passed, I was slowly feeling better and I noticed Iason smile, sweetly, “That was the first time someone got into a fist fight for me. I didn’t know to be worried, mad or feel somewhat grateful. But, I feel grateful now. I didn’t feel anyone would stand up for me that way.” He kissed me, his tongue slowly teased mine, it wrapped it around itself and my tongue listened to it and moved too, then he looked at me, after feeling he had kissed me enough to his heart’s content at that moment, “But, I should have known Riki would do that. Always fighting, always making a point.”

 

“That’s…” I was a bit flushed, “Okay.”

 

“Well,” there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I guess a hero deserves a reward, don’t they?”

 

I didn’t know what he was talking about until I felt him open my trousers and take my dick out and lick it slowly, kissing it in different intervals. Swallowing the head, only to come up again and do that a couple of times. Increasingly swallowing me slowly, Iason started sucking and I was just looking at him and moaning. He stopped for a bit, as if asking for consent, I didn’t know if I should say ‘no.’ He looked at me with eagerness and pleading in his eyes. “Are you sure?” I asked, he nodded. Then I just nodded too, “Okay, then.” A part of me wanted to say ‘no’ because of Aisha but…I felt that Iason was basically pleasding me and…I was totally confused. A part of me liked this apologetic  And he kept on sucking me, his force rhythmic and he played with my balls in his hands. In a  few moments I released my load into his mouth. He swallowed everything came up to kiss me. Then pulled down my pants completely. He winked. “Please, Riki…” he said this, I nodded a ‘yes’ twice. He took off my shirt. He was still dressed in his red thong and red tank top and just pulled down the thong and then he slid in and he was starting his rhythm.

 

Slowly first he moved up and down. Very slow as though he was hoping to linger in all the spots, feeling all my places, and thumbed my dick happily. As if he just missed me. I gasped as he pushed his mouth on my nipples and abdomen. Kissing. Iason was not usually this exploring. Yes, he was good at fucking but not making love. Perhaps, he was picking up things? Then his rhythm sped up. He looked at me directly. While we breathed in and out we kissed couple of times — tongues twirling each other like some odd peace and storm mixture. Tasting each other like some senses nostalgic being renewed. We kissed deep and the loving embraces we were in made history fold to us. Iason sped up little by little and we both moaned with softness and ferocity. He cupped my face. Before nearing to my climax, I saw he had tears in his eyes: “I love you beautiful Riki. My hero. My love.”

 

When I woke up I saw Iason watching me. One of the good things of having an expensive limousine is that you can have covers. There were some, ironically, bred Mink covers (as in the fur genetically bred) in the seats and Iason had covered me up. I think I slept for a good one hour. I was tired and lovemaking with Iason had made my exhaustion reach a peak before I melted away to slumber. Remembering his ministrations and touches I humour an odd form of analogy. Though, I do not speak it. Truth, stranger than fiction had struck a pen far mightier than the sword.

 

It seemed we have already approached 15 minutes earlier. It should take around 20 to 30 minutes to reach from Kirie’s home to Heracles — sometimes 40 as we have to bypass a main road traffic. It seems Kirie and Heracles didn’t always see eye to eye so their homes were good deal apart. However, I wonder if Olivier suspected of our lovemaking and drove a bit slower than before? Took a more scenic route. I stretched a bit and saw Iason looking at me. On his lips was a soft smile. “What?” I asked a dumbass question.

 

“It’s been a while since I watched you sleep, beautiful.” In an instance, he claimed my lips for a hot kiss and then kissed my forehead, “I missed your sleeping form so much! It feels like I have been fed Manna after being malnourished for so long! And, you are a delight to watch…” Then he smiled brighter, “You move less now…” Then being a bit quiet, “You don’t cry in your sleep anymore…too…” his smile disappeared, “It is nice to know that after staying with me you don’t have regrets anymore.” Then smiling again. There was some lint of humour in his succeeding declaration, “This time, it feels like I paid you with my body. No debts, huh?” he winked.

 

I started laughing. He got my analogy too. Now, we paid me with his body. He started laughing with me. “Look,” he kissed me in between laughs, “We need to get dressed and go.”

 

“Hmm.” He nodded but hugged me closely, “It feels a dream come true. I know it was in a car but…just was with you and after so long. Felt right. And, yes, we made love the other day. Ever since then I was hungering you to either top me again or bottom me again, any position counted as long as it was with you.”

 

I sighed. I didn’t have the heart to say anything to those words. I knew Iason knew we were still not a couple again. Though, he had that fire to try to change that either way. I am still not sure. Can you blame me? After all I have been through. But, if it works out. If it is meant to be I will accept it. But, right now. I won’t make any decisions. I can’t betray Aisha. I know I allowed him to do this and I was willing but sooner or later I have to make up my mind.

 

When we got out Olivier grinned and I just groaned. To my biggest surprise, Iason grinned back at him. If I didn’t know better, I could imagine them high fiving one another.

 

What I didn’t expect is to see a quarrel going on inside the house and Kirie run desperately towards me: “It’s Aisha, he actually punched Ashera right on the face!”

 

I went up to Aisha, “Aisha, calm down! What are you doing?!”

 

“I see you brought over Iason.” He said this to me coldly, then he whispered, “You smell like him. You had sex, didn’t you?” I swallowed hard, I was a bit ashamed, it was not like I was not gonna tell, but before I could say anything, “I don’t care. You know why? I am willing to fight for you.”

 

“Aisha, why are you attacking Ashera.” I followed him as he was walking towards my room, “You will get into trouble.”

 

“Because I don’t want you to always fight for me.” Aisha grabbed me and kissed me, “I want you to know you can rely on me.” He pushed me inside the door of the room and pushed me onto the bed. “I am gonna fight for you Riki. I will show you I am worthy of you.”

 

“Aisha…I just did it with Iason…I am sorry…” I meant all of it, “I did not mean to. I didn’t plan it but…he…it just happened and I know it was wrong…”

 

“Yeah, it wasn’t really right but I am okay with it because you haven’t committed yourself to me yet, fully.” Aisha looked with a glare, “Though the way I was with you all these days should be commitment enough.”

 

“I am sorry.” I nodded, I know he was right.

 

“I am willing to fight Iason for you.” Aisha smile again, “He can be Jupiter’s number one. I will be Riki’s number one.” For some reason, that was one of the hottest statement I have ever heard in my life.

 

“Wait Aisha, what are you?” He undid my pants and started licking my dick and kissing it, nibbling it, stroking it.

 

“What does it look like?” He winked.

 

“But…I…just…” I was confused.

 

“Yeah, I am a bit annoyed with that. But, I will give you a chance to choose. Maybe you need some time between both of us? I can’t blame you.” Aisha kept on sucking, then my tee was off and he was at my nipples.

 

“Alright.” I gave my consent. Soon, Aisha was sucking my dick and before I could come he slowly entered me and kissed me deeply. Our tongues knew no bounds and the inflamed inside of me was erupting with pleasure as he moved in and continued a tempo to make me clutch him and then roar out a release several minutes later.

 

I fell asleep again.

 

I woke up to see Iason Mink and Aisha Rosen glaring at each other.

 

“You know. I may be having some weakness but…I can’t keep on doing this.” I confessed, “I am fucking ashamed of myself. I feel like both of you keep on coming onto me and for some reason I don’t say ‘no’ like some stupid fuck. But, I gotta chose.”

 

“You are not ready to make a choice.” Iason looked a bit mad but he seemed to get it, “I don’t mind you kinda chased after Aisha, leaving me,” he actually grinned, “But, I am willing to wait. As I said before. Only, if we are to have to an open relationship I suppose that’s a green light for Aisha and me to also do other people besides you.”

 

“Sure!” I raise my hands, “That seems fair.”

 

Aisha smiled. It was like he was seeing something I wasn’t.

 

The air was still a bit tense.

 

“Hey,” I said all of a sudden, “Do you guys wanna see something?”

 

They both approached me and laid down on the bed with me, on opposite sides with me in the middle, “Uh,” I tried to suppress a laugh, “Here is a funny video…I edited it a bit.”

 

There was cat on the video:

 

“Cat, I am a kitty cat, and I dance, dance, dance, and I dance, dance, dance  
Cat, I am a kitty cat, and I dance, dance, dance, and I dance, dance, dance.”

 

Suddenly, the cat’s face was replaced by Katze. I was bored in the car when I first was going to Heracles’ place and so did this.

 

Iason burst out laughing.

 

Aisha looked at it for a while and then laughed too.

 

We all three were laughing out hard.

 

It felt fun.

 

It felt as though there were many things to be alive for.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, a bit of an open relationship started between Aisha, Riki and Iason. It is good for them. Riki doesn't seem to like it and it will cause complications but this is the only way I could make fans happy and myself. Please review on what you guys think. Hopefully, I will try to update soon.


	5. Apex of Pleasure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is like a erotic interlude and my shortest chapter yet. To all the readers! <3

 

 

**Apex of Pleasure**

 

 

 

I wake up well rested. I feel pretty upbeat too. I was excited to get the day started and I felt like I had some free time in my hands too. Though, then I had to do rounds.  There were some informal meetings, nevertheless, pretty important ones.  I wanted to sleep in a bit more. Even at Earth my bio clock and circadian rhythms were pretty tuned by these many years to wake up a bit earlier than I should. I think it was because I was no longer depressed anymore. Not so much anyway. Also, I wasn’t some stupid pet either. I had purpose and things to do. That made me happy. Additionally, my room had large windows, through a second layer of lace curtains. The lace patterns were like flowers, stitched together from both flowers, like roses and carnations to Amoi Flora as well, as if tying into some large fabric of solidarity between two planets. Wonder who designed such a beautiful pattern. In the back of my mind something about the pattern stuck out to me; not specifically this pattern or this fabric but something…relating to the flowers. My gut feeling was strong on that though I don’t know why…the letter…was I overthinking too much? Could be, I was stressed out.

 

I was happy that Iason Mink didn’t make me trigger like all those years ago when I once saw him with then Bison in a pet auction. I was so young and vulnerable that seeing him scared me so much. Like I was going to be devoured. That there was nothing I could do to stop that. I would be cannibalised on by the lusts of both something human and nonhuman at the same time it hurt my stomach, my head and heart simultaneously and seemed to have already chewed off my limbs making it hard for me to move. I thought I was going to faint then; instead I was in such deep shock. It was probably the young Kirie pulling me that made me realise that I was not acting like myself. I wasn’t myself and I wasn’t something or someone I wanted to be. It was natural to be scared but it was unnatural what Iason did to me and what happened to me in conjunction to that. However, he knows that now. He been through the same things. I could see it in his eyes. The admiration. The apology. The appreciation. Now, he trembled when he saw me. Though, I didn’t want that to always happen. I wasn’t a monster: not anything like he was before or anything close to it. I may be a monster for other things. Just not those things.

 

I look at the patterns again…soon I was seeing those odd red spots that comes to your eyes at times. It made me a giggle a bit. As a kid, I used to be hypnotised by the positioning and dynamics of my own retina with those red spots. It somehow made me feel better. It was nothing basic science couldn’t explain but to me they felt magical and felt pretty distant than all the weird feelings of being in Guardian. Knowing that around when we are like thirteen or fourteen we would no longer be allowed to live there. We would be pushed out forcefully to Ceres. Those times I used to somewhat envy and dislike women. How easily they could stay. I was a fool I suppose. It was not like they had it any better. When I saw Mimea I realised that. The fate of women just reduced to just breeding is another kind of abandonment. On Earth, the population of women or those you identify as women is larger and they have many choices. Or, at least choices that did not include only having children. I don’t think Amoiyan society has reached that particular stage yet. This was not only due to the dearth of women in our planet but also many of the female sex has already been fetishized into pets and such (fetishisation also happens a lot on Earth; one thing Jupiter Xeroxed from them).  Even the Midas population, which had females, did not seem to always give them higher jobs. Though sometimes it worked like a roaster in a hen house (reversed) other times it just bred animosity because no one could connect with the women; mostly, the men were scared of the females if given high positions or anything close to them. This has less to do with sexism but just fear of the unknown. Amoi had such a low population of women in our lore ghosts and demons took on the shape of either powerful women or creepy females. Even when people played the game of Gigolo in Ceres one of the bad puns was to be topped by the spirit of female ferocity which was never-ending sex drive that would fuck anyone. Yeah, it made no sense but other times did. Because we were not acquainted with women we had strange assumptions about this. It could happen.

 

I rubbed my eyes and after a few moments the spots were gone and I had only to hear my waking breath mixed with the sleeping breaths of Aisha and Iason. They were deep asleep. We didn’t do anything much after watching the cat video yesterday night. Aisha and Iason also talked in front of me. Even if they had not liked each other much before they seemed to be getting a bit along. They seemed to be, though they wouldn’t admit it, glad to meet each other again. They also looked happy being with me. I was not used to the idea of an open relationship. I was more of a monogamist and had always loved being with one person. It was like this when I was in Bison too. When Guy had been my only lover though people used to ask me questions and give me propositions. I also refrained from playing Gigolo because it was a game where I would either top or bottom someone regarding if I lost or won. I wasn’t ready to top or bottom anyone aside Guy. Also, in my relationship with Guy I had usually been a bottom. I didn’t mind it but I was more versatile in nature anyway. I loved changing positions. But Guy loved pleasing me as his bottom and seeing the love on his face as I claimed his cock and he gazed up or down was too good. It was different kind of feeling and thrill. Yeah, even surrounded by two beautiful people, Blondies no less (I mean once this would have been Kirie’s ultimate fantasy and anyone’s, including mine, to be coveted not one but two of the Elite), I still am nostalgic about Guy. This is because Guy was my first love and he loved me back wholeheartedly. Yeah, he kidnapped me later and tried to hurt me but I forgave him. He was only trying to help me or set me free. He loved me enough to put himself in risk and attack Iason. How many people would do that for you?  I am proud to have been loved by Guy and to love Guy. That will never leave me and I think Aisha and Iason knew that. They didn’t mind it because I am sure they wished they had a Guy (pun intended) all of their own. I feel blessed to have Guy as my first love. I must have done something right in life to get him.

 

Both Iason and Aisha had held me while they were sleeping. That made me a bit embarrassed. I could only hold Aisha back properly in the position I was in but I made sure my butt was pretty well positioned against Iason; I believe it was nor else that smile on his face would not be so prominent and all. I could feel the twitching effects of morning wood on both side. Sleeping with the two Blondies made me realise that unlike me they had less potent sexuality and it was more of a work in progress. This could be that some of their sexual and even emotional responses were inhibited. Like, I got more stiffies than both of them. I remember Iason even when he was being a bastard used to love seeing me get erections. Yeah, he was a voyeur fuck too who liked watching me masturbate. I wondered if he was an incompetent masturbator and it had nothing to do with what his sexual orientation was but more to do with some disembodiment feeling. Once Iason, later on Aisha, mentioned to me that they had a hard time being centred with their own body — like they could focus well on their train of thoughts or analyses but have a hard time just being who they were within them own selves, viscerally. I, being an unaltered human, had less of them problem. Many a times, it was non-existent. Well, the thing was, as I mentioned, that I could easily be more sexual than them. I noticed this highly fascinated both Aisha Rosen and Iason Mink.

 

Aisha stirred and put his face closer to my neck and I could feel his breath there. Pulsing deep with his throat. Iason breath was tangled in my hair...the nodes of my skull and the nodes of my throat both tickled at the intimacy of the two men. I moved my head a bit to make my hair brush against Iason’s face and he gave a soft moan of satisfaction. My gesture also rippled through Aisha who made a soft noise of pleasure as well. Iason’s hands were unconsciously trailing my chest and so were Aisha’s and I then had to breathe in and moan at the sudden increase in touch. The sunlight was out caressing my body and my lovers were caressing mine as well — everything felt so good, and right, I felt like cumming from such ministrations by themselves. Iason’s hand played softly on my belly button as if he was teasing the soft lacuna there between muscle and skin. Aisha teased one of my nipples. The morning air was cool and warm. I almost arch my back and let out a satisfactory yelp. The sensations were slow, languid, dream-like and all this environment made me feel like some sensuous fruit being nestled against leaves and beaks. I felt my breathing hitch and my legs started rubbing the mattress as my morning wood with its groggy eye turn out to be a bit sturdier. I rubbed my ass against Iason playfully and rubbed my dick against Aisha’s thigh. I bit my lips as I could feel both of them breathing a bit raspier in their sleep. I arched my back a bit, biting my tongue and lip a bit as I just felt their bodies — as though I was being visceral on their behalf. My groin could tell my breath and chest hitching and tightening was a sign of beautiful pleasure so it awoke a bit more teasing leg of Aisha and my balls pulsated a bit too as though eager to let these others know that I was still able to get back on. I moved my back a bit, I could feel my arms shivering with movement by touching the skin of Aisha and Iason.

 

My nipples responded to the slowly, interspersed caresses of Aisha and my back and hair loved the deep breaths and touches of Iason. My head tilted back. All this beautiful sensory information was coursing through me like I was a lightning fork catching thunder strikes like a lepidopterist catches butterflies. And, there were butterflies in my stomach, maybe hatched in my heart, or pupating there by decoding sensations which were caterpillar-like or vines inscribing new feelings of arousal. Those butterflies, small and large, filled my chest, stomach and brain with a colourful foliage of sensuality. I aching moaned out. How fucking intense and sexy this was. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine two golden haired beauties with half of their own hair cocooning me would make me feel this way. I shuddered. In my shivering my dick caught up with Aisha’s less awake but throbbing member making me half-moan and bite my lips. I bucked my hips a bit and moaned a bit louder now as I my butt brushed a bit hard against Iason’s own hardening cock. I, mischievously smiled, as I pushed up a bit against it. And then pushed in front to feel Aisha’s heaving cock as well. I know I wanted one person but…for some reason I was just pretty aroused right now. I didn’t know why. Maybe, I was tired and I just wanted to feel the best of sensations. In the light, my own skin reminded me of rich brown coffee or toffee made out of milky creamy caffeine drinks and their skin was like soft cream, foamy and frothy pushed in between the drinks. I don’t know what I was hungry for, food or sex or both. Usually, I was not this aroused but back on Earth I had not had much making love or sex. That was fine with me because I was interested in other things then. Like knowing the planet that had the seeds of human origins and had the cradle of life beyond the perceptions and genesis of Jupiter.

 

I could feel my breathing get a ragged. I was pushing a bit to and fro; a pendulous body of desire astounded by the gravity of his own uninhibited manoeuvres. I sighed as my lips felt full with blood as potent as my member tightening into the jaws of arousal by widening itself higher and higher and deeper and deeper: the paradoxical nature of the erection and sexual zenith. I could feel slight tugs now on my body; like ropes Iason’s and Aisha’s fingers brushed and beckoned my skin and my nipples stood erect too as they felt the appendages and thumbs of the beautiful Blondies. I wanted to cry out as I felt my dick losing over this tactile symmetry of hair, hands and faces. Soon, mouths also were felt as I closed my eyes to feel the tenderness of tongues. Iason had started licking my hair softly (so as not to cough in and choke) moving to the apex of my spine in drowsy, sleepy breathes his tongue played the bones of my spine as though they were delicate pieces of some tasting dish. Aisha did the same with the pulse of my throat, cradling my pulse with flickering of tongue like a song tempo. I moaned out loud. My eyes were becoming tear. This was like sensory overload in a way.

 

When I opened my eyes, I looked at a slit of an open eye from Aisha. He smiled as he caressed my face with long fingers, each stroke on my face a perfection as he was practising other kinds of strokes with the stroking of my face. I realised, as my eyes hooded and my back pressed deeper into Iason, that the friction of our rubbing members had ignited in Aisha a similar need of want and desire. Each of lashes fluttered as though the butterflies in my body were transferred to him. His tongue licked my throat. He loved doing that as I realised. To taste my living ripple and to forge into it an imprint of his self as my own life branded his tongue like a tuning fork and owned him. The thought made me moan and writhe. Nibbling of the ears and a moan as response with lashes brushes against my lobes made me realise that Iason too was awake, I could feel his body as he pressed his fingers on my hips and thumbed the bones and muscles there. My eyes closed and open, as though I was breathing through my pupils and irises. Pleasure was white hot and spoke with a tongue that made ebony envious. I brushed my hair against Iason’s face again and he fingered through them as if they were leaves from a favourite book of his whose lines he knew but still hungered to eat and taste. Aisha now lapped my collarbones with a sensuousness than became an epicentre of moans from me. I slowly browsed through his golden locks with one hand and the other hand felt the beautiful bone structure of Iason’s right arm behind me as I slowly pressed against the elbow as he did my hips and his moan made me grin. Aisha cried out as I softly bit his nose. I roughly brushed against his dick too with my mine. Felt the pulsing throb of both our sexes touch as though with some naughty kiss. Iason’s sex touched my buttocks, both sides as though he was massaging me with it. Slowly, he pressed on them a bit with more pressure making me arch my back again in sweet pleasure.

 

“Oh, God.”

 

My first words out and I could hear both Blondies chuckle happily. Aisha kissed my mouth first. His tongue drew out mine as though we were both charming each other as mystic creatures. My kiss was over with him when Iason turned my face and mouthed me. His tongue rushed up against mine too like some animal hoping to catch me in some allure. I kissed each mouth with a fervent explosion. Each tongue and I reading each other as though we are more than just vessels but goblets of desire in ourselves. Our tongues talked with a crisp pull that if we three made a gravity of astral bodies with saliva as the new milky way and our pleasures the stars that guided it. Each captured in each other’s orbits and never too keen to seek release. Birth of new stars in each kiss and each kiss imploded and ignited the birth of a chorus in the midst of our minds that there was affection and understanding to be had. Aisha soon sucked on my lower lip expertly while Iason already was tonguing my shoulders. His hands were eager to touch my cock and so did. Every impatient. I slapped his hand away playfully and winked. Not yet. He got it. He smiled and sucked on my biceps kissing them as though there was nothing more perfect. I changed positions a bit and had my butt cuddling Aisha now and rubbed my dick vigorously against Iason’s.

 

I was facing him now. His eyes still calculated sleep in the fluttering of lashes and drowsy, aroused look of some being awakened from hibernation. By me. He kissed my nose. My eyes. Tasted my lips and then proceeding to suck long and hard on my nipples. My cocky grin turned into a pulsating pitch of stringed moaned and I felt nipples and shoulder blades being aroused by tongue of Blondies. I felt Aisha kiss and stab my spine with his tongue as though he was counting each partition of vertebrae and counting them as a unit of pleasure. Then he slowly bit on my butt and I moaned against Iason’s neck which I had started sucking too. Feeling him excited in his throat made me extremely happy. Like feeling the excitement of Aisha against my back. For a moment, I felt also a sense of empowerment. To be cause of such desire and lust for two Elites. I knew it was a bit narcissistic but I felt some pride in it. I also kissed Iason’s bicep as my other hand clawed on Aisha’s hair.

 

In one swift move, I was topping Iason and Aisha immediately got on top of my back. Iason’ eyes were wide. I kissed them and his mouth.

 

Sensuously, I let my dick know his sweet spot and as he felt me go in…

 

…I felt Aisha also feel my sweetness and I could feel his glory on me as well.

 

Biting my lips, I started the pace. Each moment, long, poised, like some clock that accentuated seconds like drops of water captured in slow motion.

 

Each movement cause a piercing string of moans as Aisha, mimicking my rhythm in me, only pushed forward, as if taking my permission, when I pushed on Iason. The double movement made me grip onto Iason’s shoulders, eyes both widening and getting hooded as my back also crooned with Aisha. Kissing happening in twisted tango of front and back as I kissed Aisha and Iason in paces that came with the slow yet purposeful strides of my cock and my back moving with the tides.

 

Iason was breathing so much. Moaning so much. He grabbed me. He was smiling. He had such ecstasy plastered on his face I was pretty surprised. He seemed to love and adore how I topped. While he was always starting off into a whirlwind I was a storm, collecting the quiets, the airs, the clouds — I was a force of nature to be reckoned with. Aisha knew this too. Though he was topping me from behind he felt each thrust of mine as an additional thrust twisting like some coil, some helical feat of pleasure and he just moaned in my ears as he kissed my tips and bit my shoulders and at times my neck, as though he was cat mating with me as well as making love and was overwhelmed by my ministrations and pheromones, and all in between.

 

We were both the gulf and bridge made by pleasure. An ocean ripples in our connected bodies, concentrative circles on all centres and peripheries. Bodies, planets that knew the flush of the comets and the beauty of an astral night that punctuated clouds. I felt like the body bodied moons of Amoi cradling stars and am eclipsed and made full by desire. I now punctuated my own rhythm. Each pace heightening now with the force like the eye of the storm.

 

Aisha and Iason both struggled to keep up with me. Both moaning harder than me. I was claiming them with all my body and they claiming me. We were forging the hieroglyphics of desire right onto ourselves. We all sweated — which was a feat as Blondies don’t usually do any of that. In those little pools that clung to skin were the soft memories, like the soft puddles of rain, or glass stuck like lovely little globes on glass with rain made us realise we were coalescing more than anyone thought we could. Had anyone though there would be a lovemaking session between a Blondie and a Ceres mongrel let alone two Blondies and a Ceres mongrel — now we were all Elites and mongrels. There was no separation between us. We were doused by the same sweats and which tasted of the same salts and our cocks twitched the same and throbbed to the carnal call of the now. We had obliterated hegemony and all that remained was human.

 

It was terribly beautiful.

 

I swung myself to and fro. Pendulum could not keep me contained as I broke free from the axis of traditional orbit and shaped myself into planet, star and meteor all in one carrying star dust and dark matter into every thrust I gave and received.  

 

I was the bounty and boon of pleasure. Iason kept on mumbling how fucking epic I was and Aisha kept on yelling how beautiful I was.

 

In a moment. We were all aligned.

 

I kept my pace up, both ways, I knew I was close. Iason climaxed before me, crying out he loved me and Aisha was second stating the same.

 

I was third and final place.

 

But that’s the best place to be.

 

As we finished and I collapsed in front of Iason and Aisha on me we could hear the traditional clock ticking by. The sun changing its degree of light and rotation — sometimes shade and light. I tousled the blonde hair of both beauties as they caress my nightly ones.

 

A few moments pass, then Iason clears his throat, “Well, good morning to everyone I believe.”

 

And we all break out in laughter.

 

Good morning indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> " Gosh I hope Iason and Aisha go at Riki together and make an inside out Oreo of him" Hope this helps you fanfic 3112 ;) Onwards to other plot bunnies! Please read and review!


	6. Bathtub reveries and Lunchtime convos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of stuff so let's get on with it :D Also, I am pretty inspired by reviewers and how they frame stuff and ask questions. So, thanks guys Onwards!

 

**Bathtub reveries and Lunchtime convos**

 

After such an entertaining morning getting up, the fact remained that I had still had not _really_ gotten up. I rubbed my hair (I think this was becoming my pet peeve) and decided I should get freshened up. The clock said that it was around 7:30am. The sunlight was still bright and crisp outside. Looking at it from my laced windows, which I had been studying a bit still after that explosive session of lovemaking (ménage a trois edition) I had fallen asleep, roughly around 13 to 14 minutes and got up to see Iason and Aisha looking at me. I wonder if that would become a lace-pattern in its own right. Them looking at me after we have done everything. Though, Aisha and Iason looked drowsy. I think when I woke up Iason dozed off for a couple of minutes too. In Kirie’s household there was no fixed time for breakfast though it was expected by 8:30 to 9 we all be at the table. Though, it was not some strictly enforced unwritten rule. Kirie had late nighters and sometimes the poor guy didn’t wake up until noon if he had a lesser, packed day.

 

I was also wondering if Iason would be allowed at the table during breakfast. Yes, he was allowed at the home. In the presence of Kirie was another thing. After all, Kirie was master and lord of the house with Ithos as also the master and lord. A former Ceresin forced into being a pet and a former pet; now, elevated by the cards f Fate that God willed and Iason Mink a mere pet. What was worse that he was nicknamed, as I heard from Olivier last night, “the slut pet.” That means he had no dignity of a pet either. Was ownerless and meant to be used as the cheapest prostitute. Olivier mentioned to me that I must make Iason my official pet or concubine so that he gets some recognition and dignity as a pet; he will be owned by me and I will treat him with respect. I had always known, when I myself in bondage, that there was no dignity in it for me. A pet’s life was to me worse than the life of a Ceres mongrel. However, this held quite true for me it did not hold true for Eos pets and also pets in general. The furnitures also seemed to have some of the same view. There are pets who have been pets throughout their lives. With no taste of a freedom without that designation (Not that they didn’t dream it: Mimea was proof of many of their unspoken desires) they could hope for the best owners, best pairings and a comfortable retirement in Midas to a top-class whorehouse. If they were so good then they could even be pets of really high class people in Midas and not even be in the lower echelons of the flesh trade. The disgraces, or the people who did not obey, were sent to Ranaya Uugo. That was like the abyss of hell. In some ways, it was the Abyss Think Tank’s manifestation in the vilest, bodily way and I think even that asshat Jupiter knew.

 

This is quite obvious that all of Ranaya Uugo were united. The Eosines who were sent there would not always be cooperative with “the lower manufactured goods.” Arrogance can be breed death but they were stubborn enough to feel dedicated to their egocentric natures than their will to survive. To them, Eos still had a culture but the Ranayuggs did not. Of course, they were mistaken. The culture of the Ranayuggs was a layered one with secret openings that showed that analogous to the erogenous nature of sex knowledge too could be varied and many. The Ranayuggs may not have easily shared their language with everyone. Especially, not the outsiders. They may have even given small tests to the Eos comers to see if they were willing or even capable of learning. Eosines had their egos like Blondies and furniture. Ironically, the Midasians, Ranayuggs and Ceresins had more in common. It seemed each triad formed a different pyramid of characteristics. And if Jupiter was on top of one then surely there was no clear top of the other set except maybe revolutionaries. However, they can be some hierarchy not hegemony. To eradicate or at least minimise the old laws Autolycus was formed. Though, Tanagura was still a city one could see from Ceres as like a floating island. I remember when I was first released I looked at the city of Elites with a sneer. Because even though it had so much glamour and power from below the Ceres ground, with it blocking some our sky, it looked exactly that. A permanent eclipse that knew not that it had outstayed its welcome.

 

Perhaps, it was a good principle to make Tanagura just a city of Ministers and erstwhile commerce and make the new capital Ceres. After all, Ceres was grounded, in all sense of the world. It was like making the statement, Jupiter could have the sky now as it was empty and its glamour meant nothing. Yet, Ceres was the new world, it was fixed on the earth and it could rise up and down accordingly. It was not the feet of a levitating false god who was actually a glitch machine but the feet of humans who had walked a long way to reach here. Of course, the people of Eos and Midas, who now formed Autolycus, could still lie in some contradiction. There are some Midasians who felt the revolution robbed them of their ‘rightful place’ and refuse to even be considered Autolycate. Eosines feel confused and disoriented and do not know what to do in this new age. As Ceresins knew well, freedom is useful when you had the rights, education, wealth and respect nor else it can be quite daunting. Katze was having more trouble with those asshole Midasians though. They were discriminatory and it was sometimes hard to make them see other ways. They were now also without the Zein education system which meant that much of their skills would either be useless or positions hard to get now. Katze, however, knew that Eosines were more in population that Midasians. Amoi was the twisted red light district in some ways of this galactic zone. Jupiter revelled in it. After all, one way to separate himself from humans is that he thought he had no need for sex or anything. I think he was being an idiot because when he made Blondies he was actually contesting that. He made them all beautiful and all of them had human personas. Truth was I think Jupiter had wanted to be included in the human carnival of sex and sexual desire. So, he decided to make Amoi like that for he could only live that life vicariously.

 

I could hear the soft breaths of Iason and Aisha and realised they had dosed off. I couldn’t blame them we had an interesting beginning to the morning. It was now 7:45 and I decided that in a little while I carefully will push off these light fur covers and then go and take a shower or a bath. I will enjoy some much-needed breakfast as I was hungry as anything. I was actually thinking of food and what I could have during breakfast. I almost chuckled at that. Definitely, in my food list was coffee or tea. I didn’t remember much to do in my schedule after that session of lovemaking; though, I think I should make plans to have lunch with Katze and perhaps Enif? There were some things I needed to ask him. Also, I haven’t met Nile Secular, Beethoven Caravan or Symphony Talukdar. Should I like make an appointment to meet one of them? Some teatime in the late afternoon? I could ask Kirie who is free today. I know they all wanna meet me too. Then, there is meeting of Raoul again, which may happen, if not today but tomorrow or like again this week.  I suppose it is only prudent and wise to know what he is working on and how is his progress with Dandelion.

 

When I thought about it I had a lot to do. Alongside, trying to keep two Blondies happy. Even if they were not politically active anymore they would want my attention. Well, as I know, unfortunately by first-hand experience, how fucking boring a pet’s life is and can be, it was important to talk to Kirie what they can do. Aisha helped Ithos garden but Ithos had a very superior knowledge of plants and flowers because she was meant to be part of a garden attraction and also, she read up. She always monitored Aisha stating she didn’t want him getting hands on anything dangerous. Would Iason like to do that? I don’t know if he would agree but even if he didn’t completely like it.  Then again what else could they do? Iason was always collecting information and putting it to some good use. However, he was no longer paired up with Katze and no one would want them back together. I believe even Katze and Iason wouldn’t immediately like to see each other. There was some bad blood between them because Katze was a revolutionary. Not that Iason seriously begrudged him but it does make sense they wouldn’t easily be on speaking terms. Though, at some point, now that Iason is with me there has to be some conversation, right? Everything seemed a bit uncertain now. But not wholly impossible.

 

I get up and as I softly push the covers I feel a hand softly on my mine. It slowly brushes mine, tenderly, heartily, then it stops. I feel some fingers reading my pulse. Stationing there as if listening to some favourable music. Then the hand circles my wrist and thumbs my own fingers; grazes my knuckles sweetly and full of love. I know the hand; larger than mine but less coarse, as though it was always under a wax chrysalis. I smiled and turned toward Iason who smiled at me, brushed my hair with his fingers, kissed my eyelids and then looked long at me. I wanted to speak but he softly pressed his finger on my lips and pinched softly and caressed my lips. I kissed his fingertips that gave him some joy, his breaths gasped as though in the nodes of his fingertips lay erogenous and conscious centres that I had teased, titillated and understood. This taciturn human-thing guy was sometimes pretty hard to read. Or, was. When I was in Apatia I always wondered why he liked me or even desired me so much. As I grew older, I realised that he saw the same thing in me that Bison saw. I was pretty human. I was given the same compliment on Earth. I don’t feel I always deserve it but I do feel I have some qualities such as hope and determination that make others like me. Iason, by this time, had picked up my hand and kissed it. It was a romantic gesture. We paused to look at each other. I still felt unsure with my movements with him. Yet, I knew it would be unfair and cruel to ignore him. As long as we work on this and as long he knows nothing is final, yet, I think I can enjoy these moments with him. It is not that I enjoy it always. I am a person, as I knew and aforementioned, who likes being with one person. Yet, I could not reject Iason when he was trying so hard and I had taken responsibility of him. I could send him away but that would be unfair too. Iason wanted me and had also waited for me. I could not disgrace that about him especially when he faced so much pain and humiliation already. There was, still without a doubt, my newly forming connection with Aisha Rosen. I respected Aisha and saw similarities with him. We had qualities that seem to define us both similarly. We had used it differently. Aisha was unyielding because he found no use in being even slightly human if all human desires were barred from him. In many ways, I was like him too. When I was a pet I decided not to be a pet because I knew that I was not really one. We were unyielding in different ways but with similar conclusions. Not to mention, I felt Aisha was always trying his best like I was. It was like he didn’t ask to be a Blondie like I didn’t ask to be a Ceres mongrel.

 

I also wanted to know what me and Iason had in common. Aside wanting to have great sex? Hmmm, I guess we both wanted not to be who people thought we should be. With me Iason was a lover and no one expected him to be that. With him, I was a person who loved pleasure and people just expected me to be some tough leader all the time, well except Guy. When Aisha and I were together it was becoming to be the same. No one expected Aisha to be happy helping me out and me happy in helping him out. With both of them I was exploring angles of myself that people didn’t expect. Though, I think I was my most vulnerable with Aisha. When we just slept together. It was like we both had this vulnerability of needed an honest and trusting body next to us. To Aisha, it was a foreign concept. I feel he had never understood the joy of sleeping with another or feeling inclined to. I feel that as a Blondie that desire seemed inexorably silly. Yet, with me he found meaning in the very human gestures of eating, sleeping, gazing at stars. I think I got their joy again through him too. It was nice to know there were simple pleasures with such complex undercurrents.

 

Iason tasted my fingertips with his tongue and circled them. He kissed them and swallowed few of my fingers before taking them out. Then he pressed my hand across his face, his eyes closing: “You seem deep in thought, beloved Riki.”

 

“Just,” I slowly touch his hand, “You know thinking of things I need to do today.” He had propped up on his shoulder, so he was gazing down on me. He was obviously much taller than me. Though at times my younger form had found his height intimidating, I found it now as an assurance. An assurance that we wished to be by my side even as a friend, to listen to me more. Also, it gave me happiness knowing he was propping up not to condescend me as he used to before. It was like another form of looking at equals: not just looking at competitive forces, or a dichotomy that was meant to be an unfair opposite.

 

Iason smiled, his gaze was pretty affectionate and loving, “You did give a good speech at the interview that day. I saw some of the reports later on. What you intended had happened. Some people easily withdrew from being too favourable to Venus Movement. Either, though they found it a bit wrong, did not wish to have treason on their rep-sheet so they also took a step back. This also create some people thinking you secretly supported Noh Space Theatre though some obviously lost that illusion when you went to visit Atticus Bromide in prison and said he will be released shortly. You seriously are doing a good job.”

 

“And, you seem surprised?” I asked him a bit lazily and a bit exasperated.

 

“To be completely honest and truthful,” Iason looked down, an apology in his eyes, “Yes.” Then he saw me looking more annoyed, “I just didn’t expect you to handle yourself well especially in matters of diplomacy.”

 

“It’s true that in Ceres we had a free fight zone and I used to be the Pitbull of that area,” I lost my irritation and nodded, “But, to keep a gang together you need to also know what appeals to everyone and also try to make peace with other gangs whenever you can because we already had a shortage of things. Fighting all the time wouldn’t mean anything or do anyone good.”

 

“I got that.” Iason looked like he had really thought of that before, “But, that was a suave move even on Blondie accounts. I am proud that you could do it.”

 

I smiled, “You are proud of me, huh?” I felt pride in it. I felt I had bested every expectation he had of me. It felt great.

 

“Yeah, that smile is right.” Iason looked a bit apprehensive, “You did best everything I expected of you. But, don’t go thinking I thought lowly of you. I did admire your courage, honesty and your beauty. I admired how you had ambitions and aims to try to leave Ceres and were always braver than me in doing things even if it was challenging a Blondie.” Then caressing my face with his free hand, “I am sorry though if it took me time to learn those things about you. To understand you. I thought by making you a pet I was doing each a favour…” he looked away and from the slight flush of his cheeks and the low cast of his eyes I knew his shame was prominent, “I am sorry, Riki, Forgive me.”

 

“Well, it will take me time to forget all of that, obviously.” I say it with conviction but also tenderness, I am not an asshole but neither am I a pushover, “Look,” I caressed his face and made him face me, “It is still early in the morning so don’t get sad on an empty stomach and feel you need to tell me things like this. We are working through it and that is okay for all three of us, right?”

 

“Just so you know it won’t be resolved quickly.” Iason comments on this a bit nonchalantly though there is some worry in his eyes, “I am saying this because you like being with one person. Yeah, you may enjoy the sex but I know you won’t fully enjoy it and you will be having a headache later.”

 

“You seem to know I like one person.” I chuckled a bit.

 

“Well, when I saw how you were with Guy even Mimea, I realised that you liked being with one person.” Iason spoke their names somewhat softly, like feeling them in his tongue moving around a bit. Obviously, at one point he had highly disliked both of them. Now, he seems to not know how to feel about them. I couldn’t blame him. I had similar feelings, myself.

 

‘’It’s nice to know you mentioned Mimea without spite and that you aren’t reducing her to just her ‘pussy’ and all of that.” I say it but a part of me is in the past; feeling the jarring flood of sensations being pumped through my spine, how I was being tortured by aphrodisiacs and also my erogenous points being manipulated. How I had felt like I needed to come and Iason added insult to injury calling me a ‘poor creature.’ How Mimea shouted at me, wanted me to declare her love for her — I was scared. I was the coward she deemed me. But, it wasn’t by choice. It wasn’t by choice that I couldn’t say anything. The pressure on my dick’s pet ring, the manipulation of my body and the drugs all made me numb with both feeling both extreme pleasure and pain. My body was drawing blanks and I had no idea what to do but just stare at her…by an inch separating my tears.  When that memory came I almost think I would have snapped at Iason.

 

I did the unpredictable.

 

I took his hand and bit it so hard that I drew blood and I noticed Iason’s eyes wide open as he tried to pry free from a while then just give up and take the punishment.

 

With immense pleasure, I twisted the skin and flesh of his hand in my mouth, the canines sinking in. I broke skin and there was trickling blood. Even though Blondies were once more immune to pain or felt less of it now Iason didn’t seem to have that. He cringed. Tears came out of his eyes as he felt my fangs sink and take the bite.

 

In a minute or so, I was done and my jaw imprinted itself to his right hand. Small ducts of blood came out through my teeth marks and scratches. Iason was shuddering. I think he looked afraid at me. Good. Let him feel what I felt. “You know,” I glared at him, “That is to make you know that what I felt for Mimea was true. You didn’t have to punish me you did. Now, you know in your blood and marrow, I sank it in, that I…am not just a fucking pet. I am stronger than whatever you thought of me.”

 

Iason trembled, “I suppose…” he used his other hand to wrap his wounded right, “You know a good way to prove your point.” The look he gave me was a frightened one.

 

“C’mon,” I was not regretful, when he tortured me he was also trying to prove a point, now I paid him back in full, “I am going to take a bath. You need to clean up that wound.”

 

“I suppose I might.” Iason looked at his own blood with some form of perplexed reaction. I am guessing he had seen it before but just didn’t think he would see it now. That I would bite him. He looked sad for a while, brutally sad, but then he smiled softly at me. As if he was trying to say that he understood.

 

I was not regretful as I said. I wished I didn’t have to do it but Mimea’s pain hurt me. Hearing about her from Raoul made me sad. It was like there was nothing left to her but rage. Iason was responsible for that. And, he had hurt me horribly then. I felt I had to serve it up to him.

 

The bathroom was spacious. It had well tiled areas, a contrast of cerulean and pink, with some leafy green plants. It had separations. There were like three or four sinks but all in different colour palates. One of them was choral pink with white daubs with freckles of grey, other was grey with red tones and slight touches of silver and another a cerulean one with ash and white being pelleted by some pink and red. Iason took the cerulean sink. It gave prominence to his blood, he looked a bit angry at me trying to tell me I made him bleed a lot. I just shrugged. There were some partitions in the bathroom. There were glass cubes and tile walls, as fountains, making a small range of pseudo-walls in between areas. A bathtub that could house an orgy with its pinkish-blue tint was positioned somewhat at the centre. This bathroom’s grey-white Jacuzzi was more to the corner of the room where it had large floor to ceiling windows juxtaposing it. The mirrors were one way and gave a great view. Though, I have never used the Jacuzzi before and don’t know if I will lose it soon. My routine usually has me getting into the shower. Staying around 15 minutes and getting out. Ceresin habits. Though, in this new-found opulence I did take longer showers and have drawn the bath I think twice since I came to just soak in. The bath had an overhead shower nob to let in the final rinse if we wanted to feel totally clean after getting out: hygiene and all. I decided to fill out the water. I was in a playful move all of a sudden and put a bath bomb from an old, Earthian company called LUSH. It actually was one with three moons and Amoi and Earth circling around each other. I loved the aesthetics.

 

Iason daubed his wound and put on some cleaning spray and sanitiser from the bathroom’s first aid cubes inside the medicine cabinet. He seemed okay now. Then before I knew what was going on he slid into the bath waters with me, on the other side, sighed a deep, satiated sigh of peace and looked at me happily. I didn’t know what to say. I have showed him my anger and expected either this reaction or anger in return. Yet, now that my own anger was out I had to smile to as an answer. I didn’t say he can’t take a bath with me. I saw that his hair was shorter now; and that he seemed to be losing some strands for malnourishment. I needed to go vitamin and food shopping with him. Both he and Aisha need to get the best treatment I could offer and hope to God it works. There were buttons next to the bath. I pressed one as Iason played with the water showing the star and out came soaps, both bars and liquids and cubes, shampoos in all sorts of colours with little labels on what sort of ingredients they had and what would be good for which sort of hair. I handed a bar for losing hair to Iason and he gave me a chuckle and kept it to his side, approving of my choice. His hair still had his long like sheen and silkiness; probably he was losing some also for stress. There were also quick acting oil cubes on the box of amenities so I took one coconut oil with lemon squeeze and dabbed it on my hair. Iason breathed in deep. It was like he liked the smell of the oils I was using. It had hints of rose in it too. So, I handed Iason the same cube and he applied on his hair. I just lied down on the water and was relaxing. It was now 8:10am close to 8:11. I just closed my eyes and decided not to think about breakfast, though underneath the bath my stomach grumbled and I heard loud and clear its protests.

 

I felt the smoke and smelt the rose scent in it. My eyes open and I see Iason smoking a choral cigarette. It has a nice smell. It feels to be only vapours, has no nicotine or tobacco. I knew these were what people called ‘virgin sticks’ but even regular smokers seemed to enjoy them a lot. I notice that in the plate of bath time accessories there were some of these ‘virgin-sticks’ with scented candles. I knew it was early on the morning but fuck it. I put out the lights with the remote attached to this metal bath plate and light a candle or two. Peppermint and Vanilla and Rose. Iason seems to like them. The soft light of morning permeates from the window in the corner with its creamy-ash pink curtains and he just looks outside. We hear a bird singing and I think he knows which it is and I am not certain.

 

“Eastern Bluebird.” He comments, “It is an Earth bird that was brought here, especially in Tanagura and select places in Midas, because they have a beautiful gold, white and blue colour.” Then he chuckles, “Of course, there were some population problems. Without natural predators and Tanagura not being overpopulated they did become a huge number so Raoul even used some of them in his labs to study their colouration and see if pets would like to look and sing like them. I believe there is a Gazer product that also looks like their colour formation.”

 

“I hear them a lot but I don’t know the bird so thanks for telling.” I do like the voice of the bird, “Should we be smoking before we eat?”

 

“I needed to relax after you bit me.” He said this playfully actually, “You are pretty unpredictable aren’t you Riki?”

 

“I think you knew that from the start. When you bumped into me, all those years ago in Midas for trying to pick pocket a rich dude.” I say this with boredom as I get a cigarette out myself from the bath-plate, same choral colour, “You said it was a habit you despised of completely. But then again a Blondie who never had to fucking beg in their lives would probably act all high and mighty anyway.”

 

I was looking for the lighter switch, when Iason came closer. As if, he wanted me to get my light from his own cigarette. I took it and I realised at that one point, we were supposed to die like this. Katze had given me the black moon telling me to share a last kiss with Iason if we couldn’t get out. I pretty much threw them in the flames of Dana Bahn and told Katze to stop fucking around because I was not gonna die like some Romeo or Juliet shit and give Iason or anyone the satisfaction of seeing me die like that. I told Katze to bring a loading cart or something so we can push Iason out and it had worked out that way. Then I had told Iason that he will get his limbs back but…what had happened, it almost cost our lives. Even what happened to Guy upset me so much. I told him I couldn’t get hurt like this again so I left. I remember Iason calling out to me as Dana Bahn went up in flames. I heard a piecing scream. I realised, in some odd twist of fate I head Jupiter scream. Maybe some radio of the burning place picked up his frequency after all they made that impregnable fortress so keep or monitor Lambda 3000. But, I decided by then I couldn’t stay. Not in Amoi. Not anywhere on the planet. As a favour for getting Iason out, Katze seeing that there was no way even Iason could live down all this from Jupiter, decided that getting me to a cargo ship to Earth was good. He also promised he would get Guy out too because there was no doubt that people come looking for him. And, for three years Guy did stay in Earth with me. For the first year, he didn’t talk to me much. Kept a distance. Then we started making love again for a while. It felt like nothing had changed. That he was still my pairing partner. So, for two years it was like that. We were a couple again. Until, Guy said that he had to go. Sometimes, I feel I haven’t met him for seven years. I forget about those years. Because, they hurt me and make me squirm. Obviously, I felt bad for Iason and sometimes that angered Guy. What angered him now was that Iason pretty much fucked him up and that he was so obsessed with me that he wasn’t getting that he put me in danger too. However, I knew the other side of the truth. Guy was unhappy at what happened. He felt responsible and Iason reminded him of that. I think he felt unhappy feeling he almost caused my death. I didn’t feel that way. I understood him. And, seriously, I felt bad. All he was doing was trying to protect Bison and me. It was very true of him and very honest.

 

“What or who are you thinking about?” Iason asked me this as I took his flame; like some kiss wetted by the tranquillity of our surroundings.

 

“About Guy.” I say it casually as I drag in the smoke.

 

Iason looks a bit taken aback and moves back, “You are not gonna bite me again, are you?” Some nervousness on his usual immaculate face.

 

“No, I think you bit you hard, enough.” I almost smirked but realised in may be in poor taste. He looked a bit too nervous.

 

“Good.” Iason went back to enjoying his smoke, “So, why were you thinking about him?”

 

I dragged in deep as if I needed the help of it to speak, “I usually don’t say this to anyone. But, Guy and I lived with each other three years on Earth.”

 

Iason actually looked deeply at me then. Reading his expressions were at times hard but not thoroughly impossible. I could see his polished face, even with his nose still wounded and small, almost invisible scratches here and there, that there was a crinkle. It may be surprise and a dab of annoyance. But he was allowed his feelings. He had been separated from me for seven years but Guy still had me for three. “So,” he took it slow, “You were living with your old pairing partner.” Iason had some deep cutting tone in his voice, “Must have been a good time for you.”

 

“Seeing that I almost got killed and felt someone who I considered my family, Iason,” I was quick to remind him, “I was having a good time. He was important to me and still is.”

 

Iason was quiet for a while as if he was judging my answer. He put the cigarette down — I saw it coming and didn’t stop him — when he kissed me. Our breaths were mixed and it felt we did not need to smoke for an ember caught our mouths. He had grabbed me but now he was now in his own end of the tub. I put my smoke back and felt glad a bit… “That is what I feel you are to me.” He said this after he had resumed smoking too, “You are important to me too.”

 

“I know.” I can only nod, look and play with the ashen stars of the bath bomb and assure him I know his feelings.

 

“Why did Guy leave?’ Iason chases his own star but I knew that eventually that question would arise.

 

“It doesn’t really matter.” I submerge my hand in the water and move around roughly.

 

“You can tell me.” Iason soothingly says it.

 

I take a deep breath. I don’t know if I should talk about this. With Iason Mink of all people. “Guy and I never really got over what happened to me. What happened to Bison. He felt betrayed at first then he felt guilty. Then he thought I didn’t trust him because I didn’t tell him what happened. I tried to explain to him that it was not him but my inability to talk about…” I paused here, my lips trembled, “Of being a pet in Eos and Tanagura. Of being done in and out by a Blondie which was never heard of even by Tanaguran standards. I was scared. I didn’t know what he would think of me. What way would he look at me? Would I be just like another body in Ranaya Uugo? I thought like that. I was severely depressed and afraid. But, Guy thought I couldn’t count on him. That he felt he was no longer valid to me. I think he was hurt because he is family and he felt he failed me and that does hurt. It always hurts when you think like that. So, he left. Also, he missed Amoi for a while. Saying he missed the twin moons. I can’t blame him. The circumstances in which we went to Earth didn’t suit him because Guy didn’t like running away from Ceres. He actually believed that even if we were from the slums the slums were the only thing that the Elites couldn’t take from us. That it is was ours. So, when Revolution was breaking out he went. But, I had too many bad memories. I didn’t wanna leave. I liked Earth. I felt safe and happy there. It was a frontier for me too. I didn’t want to leave just yet.”

 

Iason listened to be closely. At one point, I thought me was mesmerised by looking at my lips move and just listen to me. I did not know this is how he studied my body. I recollected Aisha doing the same. Seeing my chest expanse when I breathed in and out, slight shuffles of my legs, the tremors of the veins bursting with life blood, which, as I know, Blondies did not usually have visible veins. My purple, blue and red within made Aisha tilt his head in bed and study my arm leg contours. Studying the frolicking movements of my pulse and blood. Also, tracing my lips as I breathed and stared at those pretty, long fingers touching me. Iason looked like he wanted to touch my lips now.

 

I read him correctly.

 

He reached out and touched my lips. Edging on them. I put my tongue out a bit to put little tongue marks on his fingertips — the tongue’s way I suppose of putting lipmarks.

 

He smiled, “I suppose you did need the time off.”

 

I nodded, then slowly touched his hand, “What about you?”

 

“What I did during the seven years?” I could see him look down. As if he didn’t know what to think. “It’s a long story. I suppose I need to tell you in bits.”

 

It was getting late so we got out of the bath. When I entered the room, I saw Aisha waking up. He told me he will have a quick shower and that I should go with Iason to the breakfast table. Though, he turned to look at Iason. A predatory, competitive look stretched on his features which, at one time (which, I sometimes saw), were frigid and cold, or, rather numbed by lack of empathy or even expression. I think I knew that meaning of the look. That he wasn’t going to lose to Iason Mink. That he was gonna fight for me and that I was worth fighting for.

 

I suddenly felt a deep blush in my body — my arteries and capillaries burst with the red heat of blood — colouring me in pheromone soaked lust and tingling sense of love. I felt I could ejaculate with that blush. I have a slight stiffie and I knew it was just for Aisha’s look to Iason. I imagined his golden loops of hair, careening the bed, slowly soaking into like it was part of the silk mattress, meshing with mine. Like sun met night and our mouths the bridge of double moons separated and even ignited by a kiss. The entire palpable sensation caught me a bit like stone. Writing into my body in a block and twisted calligraphy, like some slow dotted cursive, edging into some phantasmal zone of mental orgasm.

 

I was, in simplest of terms, excited by Aisha’s look. He had a beautiful gaze with his amethyst and blue sprinkled iris not like Iason’s cool blue. I saw both the night and day in Aisha’s eyes and the dusky-dawn quality of them excited me.

 

I think Iason had to glare back. I think he read my body. But, immediately, as if by some possessive flare, he bit my earlobe. Tinting in with a flush of red. I did not mind. I grabbed his finger and bit it. Then I bit his lip as he opened his mouth I softly caught his tongue too. I was not a pet. Rather, he was mine. I could mark him too now. I saw Iason tremble. I think he got what I thought and it penetrated through him and brought him some lustful satisfaction. I think he was thinking as long I wanted him he did not care about the reversal. I did. It was still a bloody box. I wanted to think outside it.

 

Lady Ithos welcomed Iason nicely to the table. I sat in the chair where Aisha and I usually sit. There was a third place now for Iason. Food was brought in. There were omelettes. Lovely sausages. Pies. Pancakes. All of it looked so appetising.

 

“Hey Rik-chan, come over her a bit.”

 

When Kirie called me, I went there, “Good morning, what’s up?”

 

“Good morning to ya too.” Kirie smiled, “I just wanted you to know that Katze wanted to eat lunch with you at this restaurant, ‘The Golden Appleseed’, it’s one of the top restaurants. Enif will be there. I think it is just also like a business lunch.”

 

“Will you be there?”

 

“No, I need to meet Beethoven for some things. You understand; he wants to talk about pet auctions and the like. We try to keep them at a minimum but you know a lot of people in Autolycus, well they miss them. So, maybe, the Venus movement doing a play wouldn’t be so bad.” Kirie laughed.

 

“Well, I guess that means a smaller breakfast for me.”

 

I walk towards my table and I see Kirie following me. I turn around and he looks at Iason. “I see, you know you are eating the food served in _my_ house. I hope you learned your place. I am tolerating you slut pet because Rik-chan wanted you. There is no reason for me to show you such generosity if it was not for the original Dark here.”

 

“Kirie-kun.” I actually started. There was no need to insult Iason.

 

“If Riki gets his own place I will gladly reimburse you for the meals and lodging, if you prefer it?” Iason smiled at him; in his eyes though I could see some annoyance.

 

“When and if Riki gets his own place.” Kirie chuckled, “Riki obviously deserves the best.”

 

Aisha looked at them. He also looked a bit annoyed at Iason. “And, you think this is the best?” Iason challenged him further.

 

“Why not, better than being a regular slut pet, isn’t it? Kirie challenged back, obviously silencing him, “This is much better than what you did to me Iason Mink.”

 

“I gave you what you wanted.” Iason sneered, “You wanted to be rich and be a pet.”

 

“So, I give you what you wanted.” Kirie’ smile was so full of potent malice, I wasn’t sure he was capable, “You are now with the man you love but you are his pet. Quid Pro Qui hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?”

 

“You betrayed Bison.” Iason spoke out mad, “You betrayed them just to get back at Riki. Don’t play dumb.”

 

“You wanted that Iason. It gave you a perfect opportunity to blackmail Riki back. We are no different. You just play behind shadows and I played on the front. I learned my lesson. Have you learned yours?” This took all of us aback, “Do you think you bedding Riki was not a betrayal to your order, to your damn Jupiter, don’t act high and might. You betrayed the very essence of being a Blondie. I was a mongrel and played out a mongrel’s bit. I was more honest to my stereotype than you. Also, I never was Riki’s lover. If I was, I would have treated him as my stars and sun and moons because I know the value of someone. Enjoy your breakfast.”

 

“Kirie!” I scolded him a bit. That was uncalled for. Though I always knew something or the other would happen.

 

“Sorry Riki, but he deserved that for at least hurting you.” Kirie returned to his place on the head table.

 

“Iason.” I say this when I sit down, “Don’t let pride stop you from eating.”

 

“Of course, not.” Iason winked, “I will let it slide. Because, if I am to satisfy you, I need my strength up.”

 

I blushed. Aisha looked at him, “Don’t cause any problems for Riki, okay? He does some serious work to do Iason. He is one of the new leaders now.”

 

“Thank You Aisha. I will be fine.” I ate some fresh fruits and orange juice.

 

“Won’t you eat anything else?” Aisha asked me tenderly, even Iason looked after that, a quizzical look on his face.

 

“I don’t want to feel too stuffed during lunch. I am going to a top restaurant.” I say the half-truth. Kirie talking about that time made me remember some of the bad memories. Of Guy, of having to go with Iason. Of liking the sex but wishing he would treat me as a person.

 

Iason looked at me and looked at his food. He started eating.

 

Aisha’s gaze was little longer and then he also took some orange juice. Then midway through our meal he held my hand. Slowly, he massaged my wrist too. Iason saw it and he soothingly touched my back. I wondered if they understood. Iason looked kinda shameful. Aisha looked sad.

 

But I smiled at them. I didn’t want them to worry.

 

* * *

 

 

We were in a restaurant. The waiters were giving us strange looks. Not that they weren’t happy to see Orion Ministers Katze Endymion and Enif Saxon. They also didn’t seem displeased seeing me. One waiter even asked for my autograph. I was embarrassed but I gave it to him. I think why they were looking at us strangely was that Victor Damsel and Raoul Amm were with us too. It was never common to see former Elites in restaurants nowadays. Not to mention, ones who weren’t pets or some kind of slave. Victor and Raoul looked well-dressed too with none of the cotillion wear of pets. Though Raoul was dressed in pink shirt and brown trousers. It seemed he was not wearing his regal purple and white, laced with gold, body wear. It reminded me Iason also did not wear his full white ensemble; with the white pants lined with blue and traces of gold. I think I sometimes missed what Blondies regularly used to wear because it suited them. Though Raoul looked pretty beautiful. His long wavy hair was tied loosely in a crimson ribbon and his bangs came forward nicely. Damsel had his hair down but he wore along bead on his bang in different colours. What was particular to me was that Victor wore hugging jeans, showing his wonderful legs, muscles and curves with a standard mid-arm length black tee. He seemed so comfortable in it too though Raoul looked about him at times knowing he wasn’t in his usual elements. When I met him at the lab the other day he was wearing a purple lab coat with black slacks. He seemed happy wearing those sorts of clothes. I realised if Orphe Zavi was here he would have balked at the state of clothes his Elite compatriots were wearing. Not that they didn’t look good. Just they did feel a bit too casual.

 

Then I realised Orphe, in the state I recollected him in, would possibly be overcome with mad laughter and need to be carried away. “How is Orphe Enif?” I asked this, pretty serenely.

 

Victor looks least bothered enjoying his caramel cappuccino with the wafer chocolate bit eagerly. It is Raoul whose antennae perked up and he looked at me. Those light green eyes, a shade lighter and in some other hue point, like new leaf, than Mimea’s darker foliage green, had a sense of questioning in its gaze.

 

Katze, from the corner of his eye, seemed to be staring at me as if forewarning me not to make a scene especially as we are all Amoi’s important folk and in a restaurant. “Oh Riki,” Enif looked slightly annoyed, “Are you worried about that has-been, again? He is just a pet now. And, a troublesome one at that. Do you know what he did, yesterday morning?”

 

Raoul was fidgeting with his napkin. I think he felt highly uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do about it. At one point, he gave an angry look at Victor, who, maybe in a former life would give a shit, but now actually had the audacity to stick out his tongue at Raoul. I think both me and Raoul were taken aback by this gesture and simultaneously looked at each other. I smiled to give him some comfort. “No.” I spoke to Enif, solemnly, “I don’t know what he did, Enif.”

 

“Well,” Enif looked like he was losing it, “Orphe broke into one of my maid’s rooms. Plastered his face with crazy form of makeup and then covered himself in only long chains and ran in my front yard naked and screaming ‘I am beautiful! I am beautiful!’ Thank God that only a handful of servants saw him and brought him back but he screamed bloody murder and tried to use the chains to hurt people. In all that commotion, I woke up and we doused him with cold water. We took off his chains and then he was sent to one of the basements where he was screaming and crying and then he just was quietly sobbing for like two hours. I didn’t know Blondies could act like that let alone be so robustly messed up.”

 

I think Victor started chuckling as he heard that. On a cursory glance, it did sound funny but then when it hit you it got depressing. I think I saw Raoul give an immensely nasty look to Victor but then absentmindedly stroke his chai with the teaspoon. I could see his face looked almost blue like he felt embarrassed but also heartbroken for his former peer. It was true that Blondies couldn’t stand one another but hearing about this from Enif was positively, excruciatingly painful. Yet, I could see Onyxes may not have thought highly of Blondies. Well, he was the lowest of the Elites and though Victor seemed to like Aisha Rosen he didn’t seem to care much about the others. I gave him an admonishing look too. Yes, it maybe he didn’t like them but this sounded serious. There was no need to be this antagonistic. To my surprise, Victor also stuck out his tongue to me but then circled it on his lips in a come-hither movement. I think even Raoul was pretty frozen in his spot right now. Katze drank some of his juice, I think it was a virgin mojito with the celery nicely out of the long glass. All this time he had heard the story with some sadness in his eyes; now, he also side-glanced Victor and immediately looked like he wished he didn’t. Raoul started drinking his tea. Enif was still waiting my response so my mouth slightly agape made him feel that somehow my story made me feel like that. Though at one moment, he saw Victor’s tongue and cringed. I don’t think anyone thought an Onyx would take an opportunity of a Blondie’s humiliating story to flirt with me! Because it sure hell did feel like Victor Damsel was flirting with me!

 

“Uh,” I tried to ignore Victor’s tongue and lip act, “Doesn’t that mean he is suffering trauma and that you should get him help.”

 

“Even if he is people believe Blondies deserve it.” Enif explained, “I don’t think any counsellor or psychiatrist who is Amoiyan would easily agree to help him out. Not to forget, he is my pet Riki. What do you want me to do? I mean as a pet he still hasn’t done anything that bad. He pretty much does all his roles and I was planning on taking him to a pet party like two days later.”

 

“Are you sure, Enif?” I think my horrified expression showed on my face, “Enif,” I started gently, “Orphe seems way off. Are you sure you should take him somewhere like that now?”

 

“But it is a pet party, Riki.” Enif looked a bit aghast, then with a smile, “I am sure you understand the importance of that. And, don’t you wish to take Aisha Rosen to such a party? I mean, Aisha is technically still your pet, right?” Enif drank some water and I saw Victor sticking out his tongue to suck on the chocolate wafer that came with his coffee; by this time, I saw Raoul cross his legs angrily and look away with a crinkled nose of disgust, Katze not trying to pay attention and just sucking on an ice cube from his mojito, “I mean. I know Kirie bought him but from what I know Aisha is more or less yours, right? Then I heard the news, you procured the boss right, Iason Mink? Wow, now you are his _master_ and _he_ is your _pet_! Wow, isn’t that cool!”

 

Bite. Victor stopped playing around with his food and actually paid attention to what was being said. Raoul gave some attention too, if by a peripheral way. The hard truth was that I was Iason’s master. Basically, Aisha’s too. Now, another pet party. It seems there were no schedule to these anymore. They just happened when the fancy struck. Does this mean I had to take Aisha and Iason, there? Well, it seemed that the parties you didn’t have to do much anymore just dance like strippers and only have sex if your masters wanted. Seeing that Aisha and Iason were like malnourished and weak I felt repulsed at the idea of taking them to such places. It felt slightly disingenuously on my part to take them to parties and places that I felt I taken responsibility not to take them. Though, as pet parties were not like before I guess it may not be so harmful. Still, I have been to those parties. I didn’t like them at the time and from what I saw I didn’t like them now.

 

“But,” I reasoned, “Wasn’t there a pet party like two weeks ago? Is this a bi-monthly event now?”

 

“No.” Enif explained, “It is just that some of the Eos people seemed okay to throw in some of their chops on. Besides, after hearing from Heracles Fencer that you have been thinking of permanently procuring Iason Mink, I think some of them wanted to see if they could compete with the premiere class Blondie.”

 

I think Katze looked like ‘what-the-fuck’ and so did Victor. Raoul couldn’t even mistakenly look at us. So, was this Heracles’ game? To be beaten by me so he wants to take revenge? I started laughing. Everyone looked at me, “Enif,” I say and he looks on, “Isn’t Iason horribly nicknamed ‘the slut pet’?” I think Raoul and Katze cringed when I said that; Victor looked like he was trying to stifle his laughing, I was confused at his pretty casual nature. I guess Blondies and Onyxes are not always similar or Victor certainly didn’t wanna care on having a aloof nature.

 

“Well, yeah, but what is the point of that?” Enif seemed curious as he ordered some appetisers from pointing at the menu to the waiter. It was steamed dumplings and no one on the table had prawn allergies and Enif seemed to be the one who would treat us so if anyone else wanted something else they could order in. He didn’t seem to mind.

 

“So, I haven’t really put him a pet ring or anything, yet. I mean, I just didn’t like the idea of that smart cunt Heracles Fencer having him.” I tell him as a waiter gets me my own chai. It has nutmegs and cinnamon in it. Smells divine.

 

“But, Rik-chan. You are still his master.” Enif was trying to explain it to me, “When you want you can get him a pet ring. Though, there are not really a necessity anymore. You still can get a contractual agreement. You are like a hero of the revolution. I am sure no one would care if you owned Iason Mink. Rather, they would be happy you are happily taking care of me.”

 

“Can I keep two pets?” I looked at them incredulously.

 

“Well, yeah,” Enif chuckled, “We are not Blondie freaks of nature…no offense…” he motioned to Victor and Raoul, Raoul almost scoffed but Victor smiled and nodded, like he didn’t completely care and that he somewhat didn’t mind being called that, “We all have pretty natural sex drives so we don’t need to listen to their rules. Besides, a lot of people don’t keep pets anyway. It is, without any good reason, considered vulgar in the new order. Unless Eos people are okay being pets with someone no one can force anyone to be a pet with the exception to the former Elites though we think Elite hurting is pretty much done with now. It’s been seven years and we all could use people moving on a bit. So, aside some pet parties we really don’t care if they are begging in the streets now. But, we must monitor them and keep them in Amoi. Can’t let those Earthians or any other Galactic Commonwealth pups get to them. And, frankly, it is at times hassle keeping elites. You know of Vetustate, right? They have killed before and it is in everyone’s best interest to stay away from them. No one wants to keep commodity around so much that those radicals are trying to exterminate. Well, almost no one. There are still people who love the Elites. Just yesterday Heracles got a Ruby named Jasper Fortnight. I think he was making up for you taking Iason. And, the other day I think I heard Nile say that a Jade named Herald Monocles was being pushed around by a merchant with Eosine legacy. So, there are some gutsy people left. And, people like seeing Elites in those pet parties or pet auctions. One pet auction next month will hold some former Elites. I wanna invite you Riki. You may like owning a Sapphire or Jade, after you had two Blondies’ fill.”

 

I could see Raoul was still stirring his tea. He hadn’t drunk any of it and his face looked weak. Katze was not looking at me and I knew I would tell him if this was all such a good idea. Though, if Elites did this before no one felt doing it back to them was a crime. I just feel it was getting a bit out of hand, “I am not really a pet connoisseur, Enif.”  I say with a meek smile.

 

“Neither am I.” Enif returned my smile, more brightly, “You know, it’s just thrilling. Thrilling to be on the other side of the fence. I mean to feel what it is like to be not the product.” I couldn’t blame him. He was once a pet who was thrown aside. He was bound to have bitter feelings, “Though, sorry if I sounded too enthusiastic.” He did look apologetic, “I haven’t seen many other kinds of Elites much in the pet parties when I was one. It is fun seeing them. I actually wanted to know if I could talk to Herald Monocles and Jasper Fortnight.”

 

“And, do what?” This was the first thing Raoul asked. He had stopped stirring his tea. Victor looked a bit amused, in a way I couldn’t appreciate. Raoul looked actually on the verge of tears with anger and dread.

 

“Well, talk to them Raoul.” Enif plainly repeated. I think he could see that Raoul was slowly losing his patience, “What’s wrong with that?”

 

“They aren’t carnival attractions. They are Elites.” Raoul’s voice was getting a pitch higher and Katze had to stare now too. Obviously, we all were hoping this wouldn’t take a bad turn. Though seeing Victor, I think he was waiting for fireworks of the ugly kind. I wonder what his problem was. He seemed nice in the premiere and perhaps he wasn’t being condescending. Maybe, he was still nice just a bit of an ass at times.

 

“With all due respect,” Enif just started at Raoul, “We pets and Elites are more carnival attractions than people seeing we both were built to serve Jupiter’s service of masters and slaves. Even if the chairs are now on the other side we still have some of that, right?” Enif smiled, though Raoul’s face was horror stricken, I felt somewhat bad for him, “You know. The lowest can rise to the highest and vice versa when society’s only selling point is that segregation. But, Elites have fascinated me. You guys were utilitarianism incarnate. NORMA caste system and all. Now, it is interesting to talk with some of you guys.”

 

Raoul final drank his tea, in two gulps he must have halved it, seeing it must be pretty lukewarm or cold by now, “And, talk to them about what? That they have fallen? I mean no disrespect but would you like if people talked to you when you were a pet?”

 

“You seriously don’t understand pets if you feel we wouldn’t want to talk.” Enif gave a small laugh then looking interestedly at Raoul’s half-annoyed which now had a confused look, “We were treated by less than animals by you guys. Talking made us feel happy or even when someone said we were being excellent pets because we were humans who were told we couldn’t be regular humans. It is true that the Elites are the new prisoners in this system but they are visible prisoners and we were the invisible ones. We too suffered, you have helped in breeding pets Raoul, but you certainly don’t know a whole lot about us.” Then Enif seem to have become serious, though not stern, “I am not going to make the same mistake. It is true people are eager to have blood and we can’t do much about that. However, talking to the Elites, seeing them as much as people as I can. Perhaps, even making conditions better for them.”

 

“They will become prostitutes for their entire lives…” Raoul looked like he was trembling again now. I think he was going to cry, “What can become good from that? They are not doing this by choice like some former Eosines. They are being made to do this. And, they can’t change their station. There is a chance new laws will abolish this. But, they will be too broken to carry on with whatever lives they might have. Thinking about it makes me sick.”

 

We were all quiet for a while. Even Victor seemed to have become less joyous and actually had pain on his face. I couldn’t touch my coffee for a while. This all was the truth and we all had some shame. It was a pitiful thing. We didn’t know what to do about this. I looked at Katze and even he was drawing a blank.

 

“Well, excuse my rudeness Raoul, but,” Enif started and he seemed ready for something, “But you Elites treated me and many others the same ways. Yes, we were genetically conditioned but we all knew what was happening. Do you know how some of us were treated? We were good pets but our good behaviour truly warranted nothing. We could end up at Ranaya Uugo without our appendages, without anything. We were all were given a sentence even before birth. Yet, if we can endure all of that surely superior Blondies and other Elites can endure that. Seeing, they were advertised to be the newer model of life and better so much that even butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths!” The last part was said was much force.

 

“We didn’t make those rules!” Raoul got up from his chair, “It was Jupiter! We enforced them!”

 

“You followed them!” Enif glared at Raoul who glared back at him, “Because they suited you! You didn’t give a damn at what happened to us after we stopped licking your boots! Sure, Jupiter was in charge but did you guys ever try to change what happened?! No! So, don’t go feeling so bad about your Jade and Ruby comrades right now! You are culpable if not as Jupiter but close!”

 

“I think Iason tried. It was a weak attempt and it surely did me no favours.” I say this quietly and both of them looked at me surprised, “At first he didn’t know he loved me but he was obsessed with me and didn’t know what to do. Yes, he broke a lot of rules and every other Blondie hated him for it and I appreciate it but he didn’t tell me he loved me before the end and he didn’t try to have a normal relationship with me. I think Enif,” I look towards them, “Jupiter also took away something from Elites. Yeah, it doesn’t excuse completely how they behaved because Iason should have understood he was hurting someone he claimed he loved. But, I don’t always hold everything against Elites. I feel they were, as you said, pushed into something too. In many ways, no one in Amoit society had choices before besides Jupiter. Though, I also wished the Elites would have reached out to us.” I smile looking down at my tea, “It would have made things better for all us maybe even Jupiter.”

 

“You should sit down Raoul.” Katze actually smiled at him, “The dumplings are coming. C’mon let’s just eat.”

 

I saw Victor pull slightly Raoul’s shirt and he looks at him. Feels like he wants to swat that hand away, but, nevertheless, does sit down. Enif orders him another chai. As if a form of apology. Raoul accepts the gesture. The food comes in. It is a Chinese menu. We have dumplings. Then we also have duck pancakes. Steamed rice with vegetables and black beans. Chicken and spicy beef. I could see Raoul really enjoyed the menu. Victor seems to love good cuisine as well. He took more dumplings and enjoyed the duck pancakes. I, myself, eating a light breakfast, gorged on the food. I was starving since morning but didn’t have much time to eat, or rather, my morning activities got me more famished than usual.

 

While we ate, I decided to talk about what was nudging my mind, “Hey Enif,” I say with duck pancake in my mouth (they ordered a second plate as the dish was popular with all of us), “What do you feel about Venus Movement, how can we help them?”

 

Enif looked at me strange, “Are you serious?”

 

“Well, yes.” I cocked my head.

 

“I wish they could be crushed. Those spoiled Eosines. There is nothing tackier than a bunch of ex-whores or pets taking up protest boards with their liminal literacy and trying to stop people for having a good time not liking too much raunchy stuff and just going for other things.” Enif seemed bored.

 

“Enif,” I say quietly, “We shouldn’t lean to any one side and I do believe everyone should have the freedom to do what they want as long it’s not really illegal. We are having pet auctions and parties still. I think Noh Space Theatre is also undermining the fact we have been liberated and I know it’s been seven years but we have had a lot of issues and it would be fallacious to think we can just shut down everything and go to other kinds of arts alone. Even Earth and Freyja has a sex scene. Surely, you can understand that.”

 

“Yeah they have a sex scene.” Enif was annoyed at the group and I could tell, “But it is not their _only_ thing, Riki. Venus Movement people think it’s okay to still live as pets and all of that. Which would be fine if only some of them wanted that but all of them? I am not saying they can’t have sex but I think we revolutionaries all wanted Amoi to change. Not be the recycled goods of yester-year. I don’t like how they feel that they are the only ones entitled to just keep on having sex as a business and won’t even try to go forward with the times.”

 

“I think they just want to be left alone in peace and try their thing because they feel Noh Space Theatre makes them seem brazen and that is an unfair criticism.” Making my point, I see Enif and the others pay attention to me, intently, “I know we shouldn’t expect people to only be pets or something and they should have other plans but even Venus Movement people would like other opportunities if possible. It is just our education system is lacking and we do not —“

 

“Riki, don’t trust Atticus Bromide so much, you know Simon Pulsar literally roused his people enough to throw a rock at someone.” Enif gathered his opinions, “Do you really feel they are as polite and courteous as they are. I was a pet and I know how rowdy and stupid pets can be. They just want to be lazy and not help the economy. Because pet auctions and parties and everything have become less than before they just know they won’t be able to keep the way they are in such a market so they are trying to topple what we are working so hard to establish. We can’t be only distinguished by a scandalous, organ farming trade and sex trade. Jupiter wanted that because it was easy dibs. Maybe many parts of Earth and Galactic Commonwealth also want that. Yet, there are many things that we can do. I just feel that Noh Space Theatre is trying to do that but the people in the Venus Movement are trying to hold us back. Their qualms are somewhat pointless. I am not saying they can’t sell themselves but a movement based on it? Riki, do you see how ridiculous it all sounds? It just feels they wanna be caged.”

 

“Enif, I do trust Atticus because some of his ideas were prudent and I can sense people, he didn’t seem to be lying. Sure, some of the Eosines can use this as an excuse to keep us back and I do agree with you on that. However, I do feel that we should keep an open mind. Noh Space Theatre can’t criticise them so much either. They are mostly Midasians. Zein education system or not they have had opportunities that Eosines in the Venus movement didn’t have. I feel it is unfair to judge them on a weird superiority complex because seriously they didn’t have many of the same privileges that Midasians had.  It would be pretty silly to just think that they should give up easily the only things that they were trained to do without any avenue of getting educated again or something or the other.” I try to reason with him.

 

“He has a point.” Katze smiles. Victor smiles at me too. I swear I see him twirl his tongue on his lips again for once and then he does wink. Yup, he seems attracted to me, only God knows why. Raoul had been listening pretty intently. His face seems blank for a while but then he seems pretty pleased at how I am handling the situation.

 

“Even if he does,” Enif seems to reluctantly agree but not wholly, “I just can’t be so lenient on those Venus guys. They had caused a credible disruption in the premiere of an opposition’s show — don’t forget that Rik-chan” his gaze goes to me and I nod understandably, “If I show too much favouritism on those guys not only will the Self family be on my throat but rightfully many Midasians would be too. Also, what they did was wrong. They had no right to physically attack people. I am glad they stayed in jail. Wish I could keep them there for a little longer.”

 

“But, Pulsar was the true culprit…” I explained, “And he wasn’t caught.”

 

“Oh,” Enif smiled, “I am sure we all will make sure to catch him when he messes up again.”

 

“If he messed up again.” Katze asserted, his scepticism ablaze, “I know Simon Pulsar used to be a pet but he is sharp, clever and actually meticulous. Almost like a furniture. I do believe he would be covering his tracks. Also, Atticus may easily tell Riki, as well he is Riki a hero, but he wouldn’t easily tell others or even exhibit his disagreements so much in public. It is not a bold move for the Venus Movement to show their fissures so easily.”

 

“Well, covered tracks can be brushed into being exposed again.” Enif seemed confident, “I am sure we can get that weasel if we put our minds to it. Besides, I think we all knew that Atticus and Simon has some miscommunications and we all know that Atticus and Simon are not dumb enough to let us manipulate that. We can manipulate a situation and see if it helps aggravate their points of view.”

 

“I just think we should keep an eye on Simon, that’s all, there is no need for less or excess.” I really did point this out. Causing rift between Venus Movement would we a totally political biased position and would make people in Eos or even Midas dislike us. Also, this move with make me seem I was being partial to Noh Space Theatre which I wasn’t obviously. There was no reason for me to be afraid of the Self family no matter how high ranking they were. I didn’t like Noh Space’s “holier-than-thou” attitude and wasn’t going to make them feel they were better and could get aweay by their discriminatory comments. “By the way,” I look at Enif, “I talked to Atticus but Noh Space didn’t send me anyone to talk to them. That is somewhat of a bold move don’t you feel? Sure, they are not responsible for the rock throwing but out of political courtesy they could have talked about it with me.”

 

“I think they were okay sending Dandelion Quartet around.” Enif nervously chuckled. I was getting pissed. Now, Enif, don’t tell them you are gonna let that slide?

 

“I think Riki is right Enif. Stop going to show such bias over Noh Space Theatre. If Atticus was not in jail surely one of the Venus group would come and talk to him. He is a hero who came at Kirie’s request to attend a play we couldn’t. Dandelion is a good wheel in the sledge of politics. He is a Ranayugg. But we all know that doesn’t count because the chief distinctions between Venus and Noh is that one is with Eosines and the other is with Midasians. Surely, you can see this distinction?” before I could speak Katze looked at Enif with a sceptical eye which made Victor and Raoul both smile. I think that I am beginning to discern Victor as a fun-loving sort, even if it came at the expense of others, or, at times he did that. While I gave him a look Victor actually stuck his tongue again at me and made a lapping gesture and I had to stifle a half-laugh and half-groan because I was wondering if the fact I had Aisha and Iason made him feel no sense of propriety. His eyes were laden with desire, I had seen him checking me out — I was wearing black slacks, blue and white converse, a varsity jacket which had light brown sleeves and blue lining with a blue base and I was wearing a red glossy chrome like tee inside (Iason and Aisha had been staring at me when I left them and they said they would go with Ithos to get gardening supplies) — he was not backing off. Jeez. “Well, if you don’t let me remind you…” Katze solemnly continued, “We may not like one or the other but to make sure our political status does not go into disarray we will proceed to keep an open mind — as Riki suggested — on both groups and will request them to approach us with equal merit. Besides, after Riki’s impressive interview on TV the other day surely, we can help him, as official ministers, to keep up his word. It is also duty to our hero and duty to our state. Am I correct?”

 

Enif looked gloom for a bit, “I am sorry to you and Riki if I caused any problems.” I nodded at him and he beamed back, “But Katze, do you want Riki to talk to Felix Self? They are rich Midas people and we don’t also want to make them feel we are pushing them into a corner. We do need them too, you know.”

 

“The Selfs are necessary but not thoroughly nonexpendable; neither of us in the fate of Amoit advancement and stability. If they feel they are safe with their money, we all have money too. They have gotten richer after the fall of old Amoi and may have even gotten some money from the old coffers of Blondies, Elites and even some of the Ranaya Uugo transactions. They surely don’t mean to upset us either.” Katze looked pretty ambitious; I loved this side of him, enjoyed it and respected it, “Felix Self is one of their leaders. Only a leader should be fit to meet a hero? Wouldn’t you say?”

 

The question was obviously rhetoric and Enif just smiled and nodded, “I will personally make an appointment,” Looking at me, “I know Felix partially well. I am sure he would be happy to meet with you Riki. Though, you should chastise him for his delay for making appointments.”

 

“Will do.” Stuffing a pancake in my face I looked at Raoul. All the time we had talking, he had been silent. It was not easy for him. Rather it was ostentatiously difficult. We were talking about politics and this was once his arena. Now, he could only look like some brazen spectator. I truly felt bad for him. I decided, maybe it was a risk, but then I just blurted out, “Raoul, don’t you think I should chastise that cad Felix Self for not inviting me sooner?”

 

Katze and Enif looked at me, both with some surprise. Victor just winked at me. I swear he looked like he wanted to clear the table with one hand and grab me on it and let us fuck for the next few hours. Well, perhaps this was a new interest? After all, he didn’t seem to be that taken with me at the premiere. Vincent’s hungry look did make me a bit uncomfortable. For a flash, I saw Iason telling me to masturbate, telling to discard shame, to spread my legs wider and thrust harder — that was one of the worst memories of my life. I didn’t understand why he was being such a horrible sort of scopophilic asshole and forcing me into a strange sort of exhibitionism. Well, I also didn’t like the fact he made me go a month without clothes. The Tanaguran residence felt cold with its foreign surroundings and cold, metallic, polished walls and floors. I would want to stay huddled in bed, even if there were no covers at times, or a chair, like I was looking for makeshift skin to protect my nude one. Though that memory faded away and say Victor’s desire, his lips no longer being licked, but eagerness in his eyes, I think he once swallowed too. Wow, I didn’t not know he was that aroused by me.

 

“Uh, you are asking me, right?” Raoul almost tripped on his chair and I think I broke him from a daze. Victor stifled a chuckle but Enif looked in his direction and partly rolled his eyes. Katze still looked at me as if trying to read what I meant to do.

 

“Yes.” I plainly put it.

 

“Well,” Raoul looks a bit into space, “I don’t know.” I think I was going to face palm and even Victor looked annoyed at him. Enif just sighed and shrugged as if he knew a Blondie would behave like this. A bit arrogant and a whole lot of artificial distance. Katze looked at me as if telling me it would be prudent not to push it. Though, I wasn’t one to always listen to that kind of prudence.

 

“So, are you telling me that unless Jupiter gave you Blondies a point of view, you guys had none of your own?”

 

“What?” Raoul looked incredulously at me, “When did I say that?”

 

“With your answer,” I smirked, “You seem to not know how to function, without Jupiter, or your other halves, the other twelves.”

 

“Are you serious?” Raoul looked at me with his glare.

 

“I am.” I kept on shamelessly smirking.

 

“Well, if Noh Space thinks they can just do whatever they want or say as you are doing now. I would give them a good beating, either physically or intellectually. Tell them off, like I am telling you, you have no right to draw conclusions —“ I think he then realised it, made a face. “So, yeah, maybe, you should tell Noh Space to be more mindful of you in the future.” I think his now twitched and he looked away.

 

Victor was silently laughing. Enif was busy eating now, not wanting to see what ‘drama’ we did. Only to look at me and state, “I think it would be good you do talk to Felix Self.” Then with more intent, “Though he is not the only person who is part of the Noh Space Theatre. A lot of people don’t know this, but the Self family have a Blondie they sometimes actually align themselves with.”

 

All of us in the table looked at Enif. “Wouldn’t that make Noh Space seem a bit, well, biased towards the Old Order?” Katze asked the question that was playing on my mind.

 

“Well, not really. This Blondie is not so keen to cause a ruckus, he simply seems to be helping them at times with budget cuts and stuff. He isn’t a leader and Noh Space themselves don’t like Self family harbouring him. But, he is, well, Felix Self’s pet.” Enif explained and we all just looked and nodded, including Raoul and Victor. “His name is Haynes Salas. You know him right Raoul?”

 

“Oh, yes, geneticist of pets and helped with the Eos education program.” Raoul almost snickers, “So, he is a pet now, huh.”

 

I give Raoul a bit of a mean look and he controls himself. Aisha was right when he said that Blondies always didn’t get along and you could see it. I think the only Blondie Raoul got along was Iason Mink. And, I think at one point it was a kind of a crush. Even if it was not really reciprocated back I think Iason was happy that he had at least one Blondie he could call a companion. I then realised that Aisha may have never got along with anyone. That thought kinda made me sad. How alone Aisha must have felt, when he did feel alone and how completely isolated. “So, Salas doesn’t make people unhappy?” I asked.

 

“The Eos people who support Venus do make a fuss about it but most don’t care because they were once pets so when they know Haynes is also a pet they don’t seem to care. Some Midasians do have qualms on it. Others cheer because they find it awesome that a Midas family has a Blondie as a pet. Though, there are some willing people who like to say they are Autolycate even if they keep their Midas or Eos origins intact. Though, there are still fissures on that identity scale. Most people still love their old roots. Not that I really mind. It sometimes helps me as a politician to show my Eos background. Yet, we have merged the cities so we should be investing time on helping them find a new sense of belonging that they can call Autolycate even though no one will erase their origins and that is fine. We don’t want them too.” Enif seemed to be wanting the bill from a waiter.

 

“So, Haynes is obviously not a leader of Noh Space, right?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, obviously, he isn’t.” Enif looked at the bill, “There are other leaders of Noh Space. Self is the big baller because of his wealthy position. There Harmony Eclair and Yoshika Kobayashi, to name a few.” Then he smiled, “There has been criticism of how can Self own a Blondie pet and still feel the Venus people are too wrong in their self-expression, but Self said that owning pets was not the big deal but feeling that pets should own the theatre so many people dropped the discourse a bit though others stuck with it.”

 

While Enif paid, I looked at Katze. He just smiled. “Well, I should meet with all of them when I get the chance.” I reasoned.

 

“That can be arranged.” Enif got up. With him Raoul and Victor got up too. Victor looked at me. His tongue came out again, licking his lips. Still giving me innuendoes I see. He flipped his long raven hair a bit. It was pretty glossy, straight, silky and beautiful. It contrasted well with Raoul’s long dark blonde and wavy tresses which he had loosely tied. The lush hair of Victor and his icy blue eyes were quite a beautiful composition. To say he was less beautiful would be a crime. Though his interest in me confused me a bit. Victor’s body was also a bit muscular, more so than Blondies, his abs showed, smooth yet hard, tight and well-coordinated in his tee. I could believe that men and women wanted him easily. His legs, healthy and well-toned in the jeans. He also put an angle for me to see his awesome leg-strength and clean curvature of his toned buttocks. As though telling me to check him out. He gazed into my eyes. I guess it was blue meeting brown. And his skin was also lighter than mine. He checked out the tone of my own chest, perfect shadows of lines of muscles deeply seated on the against the glossy tee that I wore. He seemed to wanna touch me right then and there. I looked away knowing I didn’t wanna see what else lurked in that lustful gaze.

 

Enif told me his goodbyes so did Raoul and Victor (who also seductively pouted his lips and jutted out his ass). I was alone with Katze and it seemed he needed to talk to me. “That was an interesting lunch, right?” Katze had ordered coffee, “I suppose you are eager to meet Symphony Talukdar, am I right?”

 

“I did message her.” I say with earnest, “I hope she has time for me.”

 

“Perhaps, tomorrow.” Katze smiled, “After all, you are still like a bit away from the _actual_ government.”

 

I chuckled, “I knew that. I knew that is why I didn’t have a ceremony or any titles.” I tilted my head in interest, “You guys don’t want me to involved directly as in political title because then if I do anything to fuck up you can somewhat withheld responsibility by stating we all are not directly affiliated.”

 

Katze lit a smoke, “You know Riki,” he smiled at me, “Anyone who thinks you are dumb are really gonna get their asses kicked.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

I already had a bath in the morning with Iason.

 

When I went home, my mind was reeling in with information. Kirie had already gone to sleep. Ithos was going into her chambers saying she had a good time. Olivier told me he had prepared food and that Iason and Aisha, because I told them not to wait, had eaten without me. I didn’t mind that. I actually did not do much after having that eventful lunch. I just drove around with Katze and we visited some spots. Looked at markets. Katze told me how Eosines were trying to dominate the fashion industry and had invited some Ceresins along. Though Ceresins seemed to be in interested in agriculture. So, were many Eosines as well. There were new market contracts going on each and every day. Though Katze hoped there would be no influx of inflation and constant deflation. He didn’t want a depression or a recession. The Galactic Commonwealth were interested in positing new multinationals in the area; there had always been some of the old labels. During the revolution, some of them left not knowing what the outcome would be though Katze said them returning was not completely bad. Only, now that the Zein education system was eradicated they showed some scepticism as cheap labour has been somewhat reduced. The investment they could so were on the Ranayuggs but as they were such a visible mass of people the Sentient Life Organisations would get their throats if they were ever used as cheap labour. That was good and even Katze, even if unpopular with the Galactic Commonwealth, was positing laws that ensured no one can abuse the Ranayuggs. To have them in factories all their lives after facing so much would be a largescale torture exhibit. Though, that still left Eosines vulnerable. Either they worked their same trade, or cheap prostitution or manipulated by corporations to do that work.

 

 Though it is true many things were automated now people were still needed to do various jobs in the factories. Like machine maintenance and checker data processing. Katze then told me how important it was to incorporate the new education system. He also showed me a small education program in Ceres: run by both Midas people. The classroom was only 20 people. Mixture of Eosine and Ceresin people. In Midas, though Zein system was no longer applicable people aimlessly still went to Midas schools. The children did anyway. However, higher education has become less available now and people were either getting into trades, family businesses or the like. It was hard times for many people. They still trusted their government and seeing how things were not perky right now but still somewhat working for the ministers no one would try to do coup d’état seeing they would inherent all the problems. There may be some who want the old ways back but all the ministers keep a good eye on them. PAM system was revoked but people were still somewhat monitored via spy networks and such. Also, seeing the efficiency of the PAM system was finally cracked down or could be manipulated also made people toss it aside. All they needed were some gifted Midasian and Ceresin hackers and poof the network went in flames. One of those hackers who helped decrypt and abolish the system now lived on Earth via political asylum. I had a chance to meet her once. I felt she was a true hero and she thought it was me.

 

Eating the dinner of corn soup, mashed potatoes and steak bits with bred I went to my room saying goodnight to Olivier.

 

Well, Iason was in bed, covers thrown off and I saw his muscular and marble-white like body gleaming the moonlight. Looked pretty good if you asked me. But, where was Aisha?

 

“I’m over here.” Aisha called out softly from the bathroom, it was slightly ajar.

 

I went in and saw Aisha in the bath. Candles burning lovely. Soft tint of moonlight pouring out through those windows at the other side of the bathroom. Everything seemed hallowed by a burning light of candle yellow and moonlight white. I saw Aisha had put on a bath bomb too. It was pond and lilies and it change to orbit of Amoi and Earth in twirls. I saw his body and the hair dripping with water — soft honey being caramelised in yellow light and moonlight. Hugging the edges the royal splendours of his mane; lion-like and completely a beauty that was natural to himself. Aisha’s skin a soft cream; a soft stone being sculpted by water and light; the shimmer from his body cascaded in the soap and element. I found him so beautiful like he deserved a portrait of actual Aphrodite washing ashore of the seashell: the pearl of all prices and choice. Some of the hair in the water look like small plants tasting the richness of the stream. He was wearing his blue lipstick; though now he wore one with some silver shades and sprinkles on it. As though trying to accentuate the ambience.

 

“How about a bath before bed?”

 

I knew he wanted. Honestly, I couldn’t resist his amethyst-blue eyes looking at longingly. So, full of love and attention. “I…ok…” I acquiesced. I decided this was the best way to do things. I wanted him close. Today I went to such a great restaurant. I did miss them. It was horrible I couldn’t take them. I should go tomorrow and get some food back for them.

 

I slipped out of my clothes. I left them on the floor. I slipped into the water. I could see Aisha looking at me teasingly then with care. Before I could speak he came close and kissed me softly. I touched his head and kissed back. Are lips touched like two shells entwined by the same entity. I could see through half-lit eyes that his hair trailed the water like some majestic beast. The fire in our lips was Promethean even if it had the touch of Aphrodite’s oceanic depths of passion. A Mariana’s Trench like depth collided with our kiss when our tongues opened to each other like some odd flowering dance of love. We shifted with those tongues, like water can shift sand, feeling both the taste of teeth and nerves and the soul of all our passionate embraces. We embraced and the water rippled: a testament to our bodies beginning to fuse. Twirling his beautiful hair, I kissed him further and closer at the same time: a kiss can contain such a paradox. Aisha moaned in my mouth and he ate my moans as though they were candy. I felt his hardness testing my thighs and also pressing in soft pokes on my naval. I loved the sensations. They were so primal and polished at the same time. I deepened the kiss and knew my tongue would feel his in some primordial locked kiss. Each kiss a decoded labyrinth attaining anew: like some phoenix born from the maze of ashes and feathers.

 

I got him up a bit. His dick was now out of water. I kiss the hard head and licked it with savoury finesse. Hearing him moan was enough encouragement to kiss and lick more. I bit softly and he thrust forward loving my actions. I slowly nibbled his base and kissed his balls before kissing them with quick flicks of tongue. Pinching the softly I proceeded to swallowing him whole and hearing him moan as I started my motions. I sucked and swallowed, kiss and nibbled, and kissed again. Each time my mouth engaged in something erotic and romantic anew Aisha moaned and struggled to be propped up a bit high. Soon, release was inevitable. I tasted his wonderful cum and then slowly got him down to my chest to kiss him with passion and our tongues knew the tingling sensations of pleasure being satiated. Tongues moved like engines waiting to arrive yet also pre-empting the destination. Each stroke of them accentuated what was only another rising into pleasure. Now, I got up a bit and felt Aisha engulf me in his mouth, kissing my dick, pushing down on my balls with his tongue and tasting my member before consuming me whole again and moving into a beautiful pulse that made each throb of mine move with his mouth like a clockwork red of desire.  I moaned in each momentary interval between sucking and kissing; like some collection of odd stories set in tones. Yet, I could only do this to show my satiation as talking at this moment would not convey the pleasure of me. Soon, I came in spurts of mass that took my insides a coiling pressure like any geyser of the sea. I felt the love of the man sucking me and tasting my juices and we kissed sampling each other on the other and feeling like ourselves was dispersed in this.

 

Soon, Aisha looked at me, winked. I felt him and knew that as he was inside me I too rocked my hips. We were a fusion of rocking hips and ardent kissing. A birth of a sun in gravity and pressure witnessed by double moons. I could feel my body yearning more and more of his weight and he desired mine. In the tub, water splashing everyone, one point I was on top riding him and feeling him so tight and well inside me and he loved being my top, spinning and feeling my body grab his cock and now let any of him escape. I was a prison but he was glad to be my prisoner. If he was the pearl I was the sea shell that held him and he enjoyed it as anything. We panted, breaths were smoke and flames, we were being born over and over, in layers of pleasure and our lovemaking was the heart and brain of it all. We cuddled in the symphony of us and our moans and breaths sent music up our spines. We were both cusps of the same organ yet also different lifeforms: lovemaking the paradox, sweet immemorial. In ragged breaths and tongues, sweet ‘I love yous’ were heard or half-imagined being in this spinning centrifuge of passion. Hard to tell when my vision came back and when his came back or which of us began or even ended with eyes closing in ecstasy.

 

After a while I knew he filled me with one swift yell he was spent and I too followed shortly after. My hunger also fed and my mind feeling itself expand, then contract and expand again; we both filling each other’s consciousness like an ocean or a faucet that knew only space and occupation thereof. I think I couldn’t come down from the high as Aisha kissed me. Tongues now known to each other; each a biotic presence that knew the other; soft little snails that easily could form a shell of our mouths. We kissed, coupled by the moons, knowing each other in this way and that. Each intimate cross section to the anatomies of our desires.

 

I clean myself and Aisha and I emerge from the bathroom. We are both sleepy. Aisha lay down on one side. As I about to go in the middle Iason grabs me and kisses me: “Had your first servings?” He winks and I realised that I felt his lust and love all at the same time. I did not know if I could go the distance but I smiled. Our tongues played with each other; sweet, deep, etching on each other buds and saliva.

 

Soon Iason went down on me. His eyes locked on mine as he caressed and swallowed and kissed my cock. I was tired but my sensations renewed I bucked my hips and helped with his rhythm and he sucked eagerly. Each time getting my shaft done in his mouth Iason also took breaths to suck and kiss my dick. Then I slowly pulled his golden locks. I wanted to stop. I ushered him up and kissed him. I gave him and wink and soon I was trying to turn him and he realised what I wanted. The 69 position was arranged and soon we both were pumping and sucking into each other and tasting each other. Each kiss, moan and lick and pinch of balls and cock, with the immersion was a sweet melody and current we followed. Our electricity entwining as we did that. Voltage going up and down and in smooth waves and jolts as we all caressed the other. We soon climaxed and I could feel my mouth heavy with his load and his heavy with mine. Swallowing I felt him take the position.

 

Soon, in me he moved and moved and also shifted and kept him where he belonged. He was like my pet-like person, wasn’t he? I moved along with him and our forces varied and converged and moved apart and soon united again. We were busting with energy, even I felt some of my old fatigue go off a bit, as we rocked and loaded on each other like some piston engine on repeat. Moans and breaths were the norm now and we felt each as we also kissed, tongues holding and feeling and parting only to feel locked again like a mechanism built with a penchant for magnetisms as such. Iason held me and also kissed my nipples and my collarbones. I was swept away in these sensations. We felt our weights and bore each other well. We could be both mass and air and that felt great. I tethered on the edge, so did he, though we gravitated back and forth, making the lovemaking last longer, as if our bodies were calibrating and didn’t wish to be done yet.

 

Soon the rocket going down the core of the planet burst forth and become the seeds of a new ionic belt as both me and Iason came. Him first into me all was done and then I. Feeling my second orgasm of the night made me arch my back hard and feel like as though I couldn’t moan louder. As I came down I felt two pairs of lips kiss me, tongues known, tongues separate, each knowing me in varying degrees and positions. Like a sun dial charting two starts. I realised Aisha kissed me too as he caressed my body and pinched and licked my nipples and Iason soon kissed my cheeks as well.

 

I think we both fell asleep in a bundle of nerves and satiation.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like the chapter! Please read and review! :D <3


	7. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, guys I am back, hope you like this chapter. It is long but hopefully you will like :D

 

**Meetings**

 

When I decided to meet Symphony Talukdar I had no idea what she was like. It was a coffee or tea party in a large café that actually catered to teas and pastries. All the afternoon past times. I didn’t know if that guy Beethoven Caravan was going to be there. Nor, was Nile Secular. Out of all of them Symphony was the most different one. She was actually a woman from Guardian. That is great in political leaders and life in general; when you can have different people from different backgrounds. Katze stressed to me that it was pretty important that Kirie was also Ceresin and had some Eosine influence. However, a large complaint now was that no Midasian was elected. There were still some reservations from that even by Ranayuggs and Ceresins. Midas people used to have at least limited autonomy whilst the Ranayuggs, Eosines and Ceresins had none. It was important that the political backbone was first incorporated by the ousted people before they were catered to people who had mediocre citizenship. Though, there were eligible candidates from Midas. Heracles, that twat, was okay letting Self family come in. Katze and Kirie were obviously not thrilled by that. They found it stupid to let that new-rising assholes to gain some power. Enif was in between. In one hand, he was fond of Felix Self, who I was yet to meet. He had made it clear that he liked Noh Space Theatre. I had asked Katze if he knew this from before and Katze had honestly replied that he felt some of it but he never really bothered to ask Enif. The real reason being making the answer affirmative was going to probably make him feel a bit down. Though, having me around made it easier. As he said, I was like a moving piece in the government, somewhat there and somewhat not there, though, this will one day soon stop. But now it was serving its purpose well enough and I was okay with it too.

 

On the other hand, I was a bit nervous meeting a woman like Symphony Talukdar. Or, any woman of Amoi. I hardly met women when I was in Amoi. They were like the blatant minority. They were hardly many women in the streets of Midas when you travelled there. Sometimes, because they were a minority, you forgot to see them. In Midas when you did see an influx of women, at intervals, it was usually because they were outerworld people. Nowadays, you could see women on the streets. Women of Amoi and Women of Earth and Freyja had some differences that when you notice well enough you could understand. The Amoi women of Guardian are initially more nervous and scared and full on uncertainty. They were used to be taking care of or making hard decisions but they weren’t always in charge of their own lives. In contrast, Freyjan and Earthian women looked bolder and even confident, even if they had their shyness they were people who you could see were more used to walking around. This was not always a women thing. When Autolycus was formed, you saw even more incapacity from Eosine males and females who were pampered to the point of inability. Compared to Ceresins and Midasians, the Ranayuggs and Eosines were not at first ready for the world. I wasn’t there but I saw news reports and read much on how Eosines had mental breakdowns, Ranayuggs used to start crying in the middle of the streets and people used to try to get them into therapy and help them. Some people from Earth and Freyjan were nice enough to do this work. They came with a contract but they were very supportive and they seriously wanted to help. Bless those people for leaving their own planet and coming around. I remember one NGO worker, she looked Indian, with her fair skin and black eyes, say: “There are our people on another soil. They were decades ago part of us too. Just because we are now in different lands and worlds doesn’t mean we will abandon our people. We will be there for them. Especially, because humanity must come through during revolution.”

 

Well, sometimes I was nervous when I talked to women. Not always. On Earth, I had some small-time dalliances with women. I even had a relationship for like four or five months with one. The reason we broke apart in amicable terms is that she realised that I was more interested in staying by myself then. I had a relationship with a guy that lasted much shorted than her. I really did love her but it was true that my heart was not ready to commit to any love at that moment. What I wanted was to heal and what I wanted to do was to take some time alone. We are still friends and she even sent me a handwritten letter to me when I was here. And, she does send emails often. Women are really beautiful. I marvel at their strength and conviction at times. I feel they can be pretty kind and understanding. I wondered what sort of person Symphony was.

 

When I went into the garden of this café I saw a woman with raven hair and dusky skin like mine. Her eyes, however, were a full-on light-grey like a slice of moon pressing against night clouds or rain clouds. She had a wonderful jawline. Exquisite long noise and she looked tall. She was wearing small heels. A suit which was brown in colour with a cream shirt inside, and a light cerulean and black tie. Her hair was open but she had a hairband tied around the front to actually stop her bangs to sweep down more than it should. Next, to her was another woman. This woman had creamier skin, blonde and black hair, that looked like a natural combination. Her eyes were also a soft toned greenish-grey, from what I could pick up, she wore a short with small polka dots which were red, some forest greens shoes, a white top which was sleeveless and on the chair, was a mustard coloured jacket. Her hair was in a half bun. It had a Chinese pin on it, the pin looked like it had real jade and pearl crushed beads on them. The first woman looked like she had South Asian and East Asian Earthian genes and the other looked like she had more East Asian genes and features, her nose was less long but a beautiful small shape and her lips seemed fuller than the first women. The former had purple lipstick on while the other had crimson lipstick but with ladybird effect of polka dots.

 

I was just wearing the same clothes from day before. They looked nice on me and Aisha and Iason thought so too. I liked them. The first woman was looking at her tab, so was the other one, I could see from the holos that the first woman was reading some stock market updates on like five planets, including Amoi, and then on another section was the weather for Earth, Freyja and Amoi. She also had other tabs open. The second woman had multiple tabs open on her tablet but she was scrolling through some fashion blogs alongside Business Insider reports: there was a CEO statement on her blog about a Midas company merger with a start-up that actually had Eosine founders. They sold exotic lamps and also catered to showing live theatre inside business lunches from what I could see. The woman wearing the purple lipstick looked at me, “Oh, Riki Celt, I am Symphony Talukdar.” She got up and so did took out her hand to give me a handshake. “Or, Riki the Dark, whichever suits you.” I wondered why it escaped my notice that she had natural purple and blue highlights on her hair. I gave her a smile. Ever since I came here she was one of the first people to call me ‘Riki Celt.’

 

“Hey, Riki the Dark, I am Nile Secular.” The other woman got up and shook my hand. I have to say I was a bit self-conscious. They were very beautiful and seemed awfully perspective and intelligent. They were regal in their look and their observations (yeah, they were studying me a bit I could tell). It made me happy to know that such competent people were also ministers. It was great to have women as rulers as well.

 

When we sat down a waiter brought some tea and dessert menu. We ordered a mixture of small sandwiches, crumpets, small pies and ordered pots of Early Grey, Ceylon Orange, Mixed Fruits and Chai Latte for whoever wanted now. There was also a pot of espresso if everyone wanted a coffee mix. Soon as we waiting for the min-meal to come (good think for lunch I had lentil soup and crackers though Iason told me to also eat a small sandwich which I did consume) I started talking to them, “Is Beethoven Caravan coming to meet us?”

 

“Oh no,” Nile said a bit absentmindedly as she was looking at her tablet, checking some texts, then looking up, “You see Beethoven has procured a pet?”

 

“Really?” Well, this was becoming a regular fashion.

 

“Yeah, but he is not a Blondie.” Nile says a bit excitedly, “Blondies don’t cost too much because well no one wants them to think they are worth more than a dime if it were possible. But some can be pricey though not all among the thirteen. Though it was the lower ones in the NORMA echelon that actually gained a lot of price. You know which ones starting costing a lot? The Onyxes. Yes, I know they were pretty low tier but Onyxes seemed more in number and they looked pretty beautiful to many. Like passable enough as normal citizens because of their beautiful raven hair. Then you have all the other ones.” She seemed to be happy knowing this, it was good I was sitting with someone informative, “Well, Beethoven got a Jade. An actual Jade! You know they are in chain of power after the Platinas! Jades are hard to find at times as well as the Platinas.”

 

“You see,” Symphony looked at me, “I think many Platinas were killed during the revolution. After Blondies, they were the next line of Elites. I think Juno Ibis is one of the last Platinas left alive.” I had no idea and I think Symphony looked a bit sad as well, “I think he is at least happy to be working with a Blondie like Gilbert but you know I think sometimes he missed his own kind.” I suspected he did. “There are some Onyxes, Sapphires, Rubies and Jades that did find some asylum in other planets like Freyja and Earth. But, their numbers are limited. Earth did not grant asylum to many Sapphires, Rubies and Jades. Their reasoning was that these Elites would stand out too much. That is not really true but you know they just didn’t wanna get involved too much with the Old Order now that it was crumbling. They took some more Onyxes because Onyxes are more adaptable I guess or lower tiered. They did some and even now many groups want extradition. We, on the other hand, are not focused on that. The age of the Elites and their reign is more or less over and we don’t necessarily want them back. We would have to either sell them as pets, find them good use for them or put them in jail. You know Gideon Lagat is in jail. He was the overseer of Midas and now he is in a jail that is close to Dana Bahn and close to Ceres. We don’t want to execute him and he was too depressed and weak and people thought let him rot you know. But, it is not something we are pretty proud of.”

 

“Gideon Lagat is in prison?” I really should read more on which Blondie is where, “I had no idea on him. But, I have heard Haynes Salas is now a pet in the Self household. Seeing that the Selfs wanna become political leaders and Felix Self is one of the leaders of Noh Space Theatre, what are you guys view on all of this?”

 

“Well,” Symphony started, “I actually have little patience with the Selfs. They have wealth and they do have commodities and their market status seems good. But, they are just people rising up and I do not trust they will make decisions for the people and more for themselves. Also, I do not completely like Noh Space Theatre. I understand where they are coming from but their blatant disregard for Eosines and the fact they made such openly hostile comments were not appropriate or even logical or even fair. And, with the Venus Movement. I feel they aren’t wrong but I feel they need some support and direction.”

 

“I would appreciate the Venus Movement more if that Simon Pulsar wasn’t there as a leader.” Nile looked a bit glum, “Simon hates anyone who isn’t Eosine, or makes it a point not to like them. He also doesn’t completely like Ranayuggs you know. That is pretty cheap. Atticus and Yuko should pretty much can him. I feel that he makes their Movement looks liminal and sharing the hypocrisies of the Noh Space Theatre. As a former Eosine, or rather Eosine myself, I feel that Simon gives a bad name for us. He is also pretty hostile towards me. I guess he is kinda jelly that I am in a government position and he is the ‘rebel’ position. Well, can’t be helped…” she chuckles and we all kinda join her, “But, seriously, I think the most open one amongst them is Yuko,” she stressed this and made me remember what Aisha said to me some time ago, “She is a gifted playwright. I think she can give that Dandelion Quartet a run for his money.”

 

“Have you seen ‘The Debut’? I asked.

 

“Yeah, it was great.” Nile admitted, “I caught it after the premiere it’s also like a part of my job. It’s still showing and I think will be running for two or three more months. Dandelion put on a good play, because it is about the revolution and well that is strikingly still a good subject. Also, the Noh Space Theatre must have also now realised that as you are here you are gonna make sales go great. Seeing, well, you are one of the heroes of the revolution.”

 

Good point. Me going to the ‘The Debut’ and well-being a notable figure was not a bad thing. Well, equal opportunity. I have to go the Venus show as well. I am actually looking forward to that to see what they put on. It interested me. I think the play that I last saw on Earth that I really liked was _Matilda_. I really liked Matilda as a character. I felt her pain, her sorrows and it was nice to see a girl character shown so positively. “Well, I guess.” I laughed a bit, “So,” I was getting interested, “Yuko Solar is also really talented?”

 

“Yup, she sure is.” Nile smiled at me.

 

“I feel it is great the we have an Eosine woman who is a playwright and Ranayugg also as a playwright. It is great to see so many people with so many talents.” I confessed, I did feel a great joy and pride for Amoi. It is great that people will see how rich Amoi culture is.

 

“You mean, it’s great to see talents aside the sexual ones?” Symphony asked me this question quite openly. Her tone and intent seemed to contain no malice.

 

“Well yeah.” I was honest too, “I am not saying people can’t do that. But, we made an industry based totally on that. Or, rather Jupiter did. Jupiter forced people, most of them, to live like that. It wasn’t always an active choice to be a pet or prostitute but it happened. Also, Midas ran a lot as being like some more debauched Las Vegas. We also have that organ farm thing that went on. There are a lot of things that Amoit society is not necessarily proud of. I do want that Amoit culture which is also rich and vivacious have a fighting chance as well.” I look down on my hands, clasp them, then look up again, “You know I am a Ceresin and I know how hopeless things can be. I also know this as a temporary Eosine. When people are devalued, or relegated or severed from their rights to food, education, security, homestead, money and a right to show their skills and talents it is awful and demoralising. We humans are pretty damn cool in the sense we want to shape our lives with many things. Many sentient beings do this. To be denied this is obviously a crime. Though, I feel that even in bondage life went on because life is pretty unconquerable. We are always stronger than we think. If we were so resilient and thriving even with chains on our bodies think of what we can do without them.”

 

For a moment, both of them were silent. I thought, perhaps, I was saying something wrong. Then Symphony smiled pretty wide, she looked absolutely stunning, her grey eyes shone just the moons they seemed to be, “You know,” she put a hand on her face, resting with ease, “You are so leader material it hurts. Here I thought I might be meeting a pompous Ceres guy. Seeing you were also known as the Pitbull of Hot Crack. Instead, I am meeting a charismatic leader of a young man who has all the makings of a Digamma Prime Minister.”

 

“Yeah. I thought you might even be a perv, no offense…” Nile offered, “I have seen some tough Ceres guys leer at me before or be rude with me or distrust me because I am a woman.”  Then she smiled too, “But you are respectful and full of such good sense of pride and duty. You are also extremely beautiful as your reputation preceded you. Wow, I am impressed by you Riki the Dark.”

 

I kept on blushing for a bit and looking away. Usually, when before I got praise from Ceresins I use to know it may be a ploy and glare. They didn’t seem to be messing with me. Genuine praise can feel like a hot white sun in a cool drink — tasting both sweet and mellow and pretty awesome. “Well,” I say it softly, “I try to do my best.” Recovering from that feeling as quickly as possible as I was not one who was won by compliments or flattery. I appreciated their comments but I also needed to do more than blush. “So, Beethoven has a Jade as his pet?” I ask the nagging question of my head.

 

“Well, yeah.” Symphony answered, “Well, he isn’t just romping around with him. Between us I think Beethoven doesn’t know what to especially do with him.” Symphony looked alert, “It’s like he isn’t a bad person but he is also a bit shy making moves sexually. He has always been like that. Also, he is an ex-furniture…” We all knew what that meant, “He may have taken a pet as a status symbol but most of his adult life has been sexless. Now, he knows alternative sexual practices and all but you know the medical program to help ex-furnitures?”

 

“No. sorry.” I was a bit under informed about this. I knew about the Ranayugg surgeries but I also knew some of Raoul’s roster of helping agriculture and all. But, human medical discourse was now to be within parameters. There had been an almost 100% ban of genetic testing in Amoi, first time in all its history especially with Abis Think Tank, and so experiments were not allowed either. This pervaded into many other sectors such as the temporary ban of Gazer drug and its distribution.

 

“Well, there is a program that allows ex-furnitures to get their genitals back. It’s small so not wide known but it has been a success.” Symphony informed, “They kinda ‘grow’ the penis back. Some furnitures are still reluctant to get it but Beethoven has gotten it. So, he is now back with a penis.” Symphony looked at me as though wanting to smirk, but then said, “But, it is problematic for him. He hasn’t had sex like that before and he doesn’t know even how to feel…you know…” I think Symphony did not know if she should divulge all of this to me, but, I think it was safe enough with me, and something told me Nile already knew, “So, me and Nile think he got a Jade pet. Elites usually watch and can be voyeurs so they both can break the ice on that. His pet name is Herald Monocles. He used to work in IT administrations so he is also a good data analyst.”

 

“Seems totally like Beethoven’s type.” Nile smirked.

 

I felt that this guy would be more of Katze’s type. I remember how condescending that Blondie was with Iason and Aisha. Though, perhaps he has something. Katze is not easily attracted or seduced. After all, I did know he was also Katze’s type it’s just I wonder if this guy was less haughty than Gilbert. Even so, I wonder if Katze and Gilbert even went out for anything yet. It would be nice to see them around. I haven’t known or asked Katze if he had been accepted or rejected and to be honest I was a bit worried about the outcome because I am sure that Katze didn’t always ask people out on dates. Nor relationships in fact. This was obviously a big deal. And, I was concerned about him so I was interested to know who he would date and who would he eventually start dating. I didn’t want Katze to face things alone and be alone all the time. I think most of his life, like me, he had been alone. Also, he did have some unrequited feelings for Iason Mink. I would glad that he got over them. It was true that Gilbert was also a Blondie but it was also true that Gilbert and Iason were no really much alike. It was also true that I knew Katze had more command over his feelings to not try to forget someone by dating their exact opposite. Gilbert could be haughty and arrogant as much as Iason though Gilbert liked dressing up nicely and looking after himself. I think in some ways I got that part too. Katze used to be a furniture then he partly graduated to becoming Iason’s agent in the Black Market and was ruler by proxy. I think Katze still did not outgrow the furniture label because he was still overseeing people and good which to him would still seem like ‘goods.’ But, Gilbert took care of himself more or less and was able to do much by himself including dress nice. He could give Katze pointers on how to dress and how to be better presentable even if Katze knew some of those it is sometimes nice to be advised by someone too.

 

I think it was about time someone took care of Katze too. I know I felt it as much as he did. Would Gilbert be the right guy for it? Perhaps. Also…does that mean Katze also got this surgery? Well…I be…damned…I have never figured to ask him about him or talk to him about it. Well, would it okay to ask him? He hadn’t at all told me about it so I am not sure if that’s a topic for discussion. Well, we have had no formalities. Not that I knew of. And, testing the boundaries doesn’t seem like he would actually mind on that. I think we subtly do that all the time and the basis of our friendship dynamics somewhat works like that. That suits us more than fine.

 

“So,” I say after some minutes as our food and tea came, “Beethoven likes that type, right? A bit quiet and mathematical?”

 

“Well,” Nile looked at the kettles of different types of tea, “True, he did seem to like that type a lot. I do believe that he found someone he could hang around with.” Then Nile seemed to sigh, “You know there is always a problem finding the right sort of person. I, myself, struggled with that.” Then with a smile, albeit kinda sad, “I broke up with a long-time person. I mean we have been together for three years and I really thought it was serious but that person is not settled on who they are and I just don’t know if I can really trust her anymore either if she wanted to hook up before.”

 

“Her?’ I say this with some surprise.

 

“Nile, Riki seems fine but I told you not to easily talk about your relationship with that Earth girl named Susan so much in front of company. You know it is frowned upon.” Symphony have her a sympathetic but a look of a mother also asking a kid not to talk too much during dinner. Which was interesting because from what I knew a bit about them Symphony Talukdar was thirty-five years old and Nile Secular was like twenty-seven or twenty-eight. There wasn’t that much of a gao difference between them. Also, it seemed, this sort of talk came naturally to Symphony…like she knew how to talk like that…was she…? Also, what was this about not talking about relationships?

 

“Oh, c’mon, we are no longer in the old culture of Amoi. We women now can also date other women though it was frown on by the old Amoi culture because males were always overeager to control who we slept with even if it was opposite sex and our sexualities are very regulated.” Nile looked annoyed and I got her argument straight up, she was right, “It is stupid that Jupiter wanted women for breeding and felt that as they biologically many a times could get pregnant that it was best to treat them as vessels for breeding rather them give them the same sexual autonomy as the males. I think those views should change.” I couldn’t agree more. Though, I wasn’t always like this. Women of Guardian and men of Ceres usually did think that as women could many a times naturally breed it would be good if they chose a suitable person, most of the times male, who they could breed with. However, I one day realised that was unfair thinking. It was wrong to think that females should not have desires of males to bond and have pairing partners of their own aside the meeting goal of reproduction. Though, even when they chose males it was a limited pool because Guardian didn’t allow most males to stay and I think it was hard for them no matter who they wanted to stay with, female or male. Though, yes, Amoi discourse had always a sexist attitude towards queerness or even open sexuality when it concerned women. When I think back to what happened to Mimea it was evidence enough that this was there.

 

“We all know that those views should change but just because we want them to change fast doesn’t mean they will change fast and you are a Minister.” Symphony advised firmly but gently, “You should understand that other people will look to you and judge you a bit too much if you go too fast on this yourself. You should take it slowly. You can be an important spokeswoman for queer women of all types if you actually take it slow and gentle. We need someone like you to show that Amoi also has progressive views on women and that all women can choose their own sexualities now. This is not a lie I even talked about Beethoven about this, though he is a bit divided against this, he is actually willing to build a new legislation with me that legalises all these actions and also practices from the old one that always didn’t.”

 

“That fact that Beethoven is divided shows he is such a stickler furniture still.” Nile almost snorted.

 

“Don’t be like that.” Symphony looked to me apologetically but I gave her an assuring tilt of the head when she was speaking nicely to Nile, “He is a just a guy who still has some old traditional ways and I can’t blame him and neither can you. He is a furniture and he thinks like that but think of how many Midasians and Eosines also think like that too. Well, Guardian women sometimes also thought like that and it was sometimes hard to change their minds. Though, they also practised strange costumes in which they followed the ‘sister-lover’ culture where you could be with men out of some obligation but when you were with your woman she was yours to still love and your partner or husband could not touch her, ask for threesome unless you wanted to share, or could ask even details about her because it was said by the females in Guardian it would create distrust and even jealousy in the man that you chose knowing that you loved a woman more. Well, the man was also free to pursue another man if he wanted but not obviously, another woman because females were scarce and that would be spoiling the genetic balance and exhibiting selfishness. Yet, there was a compulsion to be with a man or attract suitable males due to protection and getting pregnant. There were always genetic harvesting and sperm banks but having the male himself was also a sigh of status and stability and in Guardian a woman eschewing that for her sexual pleasures or even romantic pleasures with a ‘lesser’ man or woman was considered a form of self-destruction. Can we really blame Beethoven when our culture was so geared towards women this way? We should blame the institutions and the systems instead of targeting one specific man or specific group of males because they have been pretty much indoctrinated with the bullshit that I just mentioned. At least, he is trying to learn and change his ways. Many men are not doing that. Especially, Midas people and some Ceresins. No offense.”

 

I shook my head because I, myself, had talked to some Ceres guys who would love to score with women but not see as autonomous beings. Ironically, they would glorify or even deify the women and feel that she should sleep and even use males as much as possible and that those guys would not mind licking even her shoes but if she went out with other women it was like to them two goddesses fucking each other and they would be overwhelmed by that sight and feel that should not be because ‘goddesses’ should also be for others, right? But, if they fuck themselves what was the purpose of mere mortal men. “Though, I know that Ceres men are more of the grounds of proving themselves to women and trying to show they can be good companions. They are humble but ill informed.” See, what I mean, “But with Midasians you know it is because they have fetishized women so much that they hate the idea of women going out and doing their own thing. You know the Self family women may run finances but they are not completely allowed to work or even have much say on household matters?” Wow, until Symphony stated it I didn’t know that, “Don’t worry,” she looked at me, “It is not regular knowledge and only some expert journalist like Arata Acharya know this. That is because he doesn’t like the Selfs much too. The Self family has the same idea of running their females like people used to do with Guardian. Because to them it was efficient and made sense. They still have Machiavellian views like Jupiter. There aren’t many females in their family but they wanna guard them as much as possible. Acharya also stated that one of the unsung leaders of the Noh Space Theatre Group is actually Odeta Self. She is the younger sister of Felix but gets less credit because she is a woman. We have these problems in Amoi. Especially, because Amoi used to be such a male exclusive society. Don’t be hard on Beethoven for troubles that are rampant. Needless to also say, the new Earth and Freyjan immigrants that have come along do strike xenophobia into the hearts of men. They are strong females but they can see that there is certain fear in the eyes of the Amoit guys when they walk by. We must make sure that discrimination, sexual assault or sexual harassment does not become rampant. Both ways.” She looked at me, “There are a chance that Earthian or Freyjan women may easily, with cheaper prices, by Ranayuggs and Eosines and use them and then leave them. There is also a bad trend now where the wealthier people who still do business here wanna take the people who are the trade of selling sex back to their planets, especially Earth, to actually put them up for factory work. We need all these problems fixed and we can only do it together, we should be united more so than ever.”

 

“Symphony, I agree with everything you said but I can’t help if the last two relationships I had are with women. One Amoit and one Earthian.” Nile specified her details; one good thing is that they seemed comfortable and free around me, that actually made me pretty happy on the inside, “It’s just that I can’t stand it always that guys get to have whatever sort of relationship they want and I have to pretty much hide who I want. Even the males I date are judged and sorted out more than the females. God, such sexist notions seemed widespread, I heard gays are more male-centric and lesbians are pretty much fetishized to feel the cis, straight men desires of Earth?” She asked me.

 

“Yeah, that is there.” I confessed, “I think female sexuality is a very under researched aspect of life even now because it is scary and pretty complex and it seems to have no incentives other than pleasure which also confuse many Ceres guys because to them sex is also practical which means they are getting stuff from it. So, to think of pleasure as an incentive is hard for some guys to think though they pretty much also practice it. Pleasure is practical in many ways because we can’t measure it or barter it as easily we can sexual favours or other goods. It exists mostly for yourself and the one you are experiencing with and it grows like life in the sense that it grows via many layered connections. Each renewed and each magnified by each action. Pleasure is also both autonomous but concomitant on other factors which if you look at consumerism or even modes of law both capitalistic and communistic you will see it does not always work because they are not interdependent they are very independent and isolated from certain things. Both ideologies have transactional philosophies but pleasure when it is many layers cannot be a transaction. So, it has a hard time being measured and equated.”

 

“I agree.” Symphony smiles. I think she was drinking Chai Latte. Nile was sipping on Early Grey. I couldn’t decide perfectly what I wanted. So, I decided to start drinking the Earl Grey and the go the milky, steamy Chai Latte. I almost laughed aloud when I realised the tea choice here would be analogous to the feelings and emotions I had between Iason Mink and Aisha Rosen. “You seem to understand pleasure in itself. Something tells me you had a deep relationship with someone that made you feel, so?”

 

I smiled. As long as we are all sharing, it is only fair that I share that intimacy, “You see. Guy. Yeah, he is a guy, but he is also well Guy. He was my Ceres pairing partner since I ever understood what fucking could really mean, pardon the language.” They both nodded that hell with it speak freely, “Guy was a friend from my childhood. But, he became more than my friend. Yes, he was family. But, he was also someone I started to love deeply. Not only in a romantic way. If romantic way means only sex and gestures I would say that the Blondie who had me possessed a lot of that, sometimes even more than what I had with Guy. Guy taught me how to love and taught me loving someone means loving them in so many ways and I feel I allowed him scope on that too. There was responsibility in our relationship but also so many different types of pleasures. We loved walking in the rain, even without an umbrella, we loved going grocery shopping together, we loved eating together and even if no sex was involved we just loved the presence of each other. The intimacies we shared was very important. Sex was too. I think I learned half of making love from Guy. It was not one or some numerous acts of intercourse but a holistic approach in which we existed but also lived our lives.” I think I got a bit teary when I stated this, “I cannot say that what we had liminal or fathomless. It was both here and now but also beyond that. It had limitations like most things but is beautiful for them but also that it went beyond them. Guy’s love was an indispensable, irreducible thing for me and a very crucial part of my life. He made me feel taken care of and he also made me feel responsible by taking care of him which was very important. I don’t think I could have survived that time without him. It didn’t matter that I was the Pitbull of Hot Crack or Riki the Dark. To Guy I was Riki and that made sense to me. I was just a person, emotional, vulnerable and valuable to him. I need that. Someone to humanise me. Not to treat me as just a leader or something. It felt and feels always important to me.”

 

We felt another silence creep up on us. It was kinda comical that we were gelling so much just after we had met but I think it wasn’t so bad. I think it was important. We were talking about such prominent things. I don’t think I was this close to anyone especially women the first time I met them. Though, the context usually mattered to as I met them in clubs or bars. There were only some women and men I had met in libraries on Earth. Not that I hadn’t gone to libraries much but many people in libraries would obviously feel disturbed if you bothered them. In my initial years in Earth, I was a bit different. I used to wanna be chatty and make acquaintances, alliances and friends. Only if to pass the time. I had angered some people because they felt disturbed by me when I just up to them and said more than ‘hi.’ They didn’t share my similar sense of feeling lost and vulnerable. Of course, this was unusual for me. I loved staying by myself and I loved that for once I got a break. But, life can feel monotonous with some company. So, it was just normal for me to make allies. Yet, the system of Amoi and Earth were not identical even if they had some similarities. People on Earth were not like Ceresins, those people who didn’t live in the slums and they were people who were pretty well off or even well satiated. They had no need for constant groups or company, or, so it seemed. Yet, even if they did want company it was like they got it elsewhere. I think meeting new people was not always people with commodities and securities actually thought about. So, not all of them were accommodating. I realised then that Earth people could also be severely selfish as well. That they usually thought about themselves even if they didn’t necessarily need to because they were not Ceres mongrels or Eos pets or even Tanagura Blondies; not even Midas hierarchy people. Though, the kind ones were good and great and they were understanding and so accommodating. I realised Earth in its abundance or even its false sense of abundance was creating a narcissistic culture that was akin to the Blondies. Though, it was sad. The Blondies were genetically conditioned to be like that but Earthians not so much. However, their cultures seemed to inculcate and indoctrinate the powerful sense of self and this became almost parasitic. Like one half of self-cannibalising on the other. I remember reading about it too. That people suspect others a lot and they also suspect the intentions of others. Though that was a good practice they did so with such acumen and expertise they even overlooked the genuine people and gave those genuine people a hard time.

 

I guess at times I did feel alone and did not know if it was possible to survive alone always. Especially, on Earth’s double standards. Earth boasted an extroverted culture but it sure wanted you to keep up with niceties and be a hermit on the inside. It did not want you to be feeling and emotional over others. It wanted you also to make money and commodities important things; they were to be treated to be viable substitutes instead of people. That is why many Earth people I met did not experience even the modicum of the brotherhood that I faced and lived with Bison. I do not even think they were as united as some Eosine pets. They just felt they should ‘hang’ and the word itself was imagery for a noose. Of course, people who rebelled against this philosophy had some acceptance. Though, they were also face with derision as impractical and emotionally sentimental people. They were stated this because people did not enjoy vulnerability. There was a real danger that vulnerability with the wrong person could be lethal and life threatening. That was true. Also, people didn’t have the time to be vulnerable. Like Amoi there were some people who were workaholics to the brim and others who had wealth and time but were kept in the bubble of their wealth and could not easily taste life. It was always contradictory. People did not know how to change it. When Jupiter got Amoi that machine also didn’t know how to change it. He just oiled the machine well didn’t change its gears or design. Nor, improve it. It was hard and it was cycle that ensured that people were either kept happy or miserable over trivial data and surplus goods.

 

I had been deep in my reverie or whatever you wanted to call it but I didn’t sense that around me the ambience had changed a bit. I looked up and I saw Nile actually _crying_. Symphony looked pretty impressed but also deeply moved. “Hey, are you okay?”

 

“That was so beautiful.” Nile stated, “I had no idea you know so much about emotions. You are so wise.”

 

I felt embarrassed. “It was just the truth.”

 

“That is a truth no one always has the guts or balls to easily say.” Symphony beamed, “You are just a very special human being aren’t you, Riki Celt, or, Riki the Dark?”

 

“I am just a regular person.” I scratched my head, “I am not as astounding as anything. I think it took guts for Nile to say she was with a woman and still in love with her and for you to actually give a in depth analysis of political situations in our planet without stopping to take a breath. You all are so gifted, hardworking and meticulous. Both of you should try out to be Digamma Prime Minister. It will be really awesome that we had a female Digamma Prime Minister as the first official elect. I think it would be crucial especially to female sexuality and female queer rights.”

 

“Well, it would be awesome if Symphony got elected.” Nile was pretty enthused about that, “You know how she is in the queer spectrum? She is a demisexual person. Like, from what I glean, I could be wrong but demisexuals and asexuals are the least represented groups in the queer spectrum and sexualities in general.”

 

“Well,” Symphony looked kind of annoyed, but then gave a playful smile, “I guess that cat is out of the bag.” Turning to me, “It is really refreshing that someone who is the most popular choice of Digamma Prime Minister wants us to be instead. I cannot tell you that it is pretty inspiring and yes, I had thought it would be nice for a woman to be a Digamma Prime Minister too. Our second choice after you was our very own Katze Endymion. How do you identify as Riki the Dark?” With laughter in her eyes she asked.

 

“I guess I am pretty pansexual. There isn’t any specific sex or gender that attracts me and I am mostly equally attracted to all of them.” I shared that info.

 

“Really?” Nile looked questioning, “To be honest I always thought you were demisexual and the way that you just could describe so profoundly the feeling of being in love with Guy made me feel that too. I don’t think other sexualities aside ace could actually pinpoint it in verbal speech that well. But, it is nice to know you are pan and maybe even available.” She winked at me, “I am a regular bi person myself.”

 

Talking to them was nice because it was nice they identified with something. I usually believe that sexuality was fluid but it was good that people could identify with something if they chose to better communicate who they were. Labels or tags, as long they were open-ended and not conforming or even coercive and limited, could have a point. I thought about how the word ‘pet’ was confining, coercive and abusive and pretty much debilitating. Though some people may wear it with pride they did so because they were not treated as me and for them being a pet meant completely different to what it meant to be a pet for me.  They thought it as a sign of sexual liberation and fertility. It seemed being a pet at times, especially for Eosines, was better than being a Blondie who were trained to be abstinent and pretty much infertile who could never participate as eagerly as they could with sex or go beyond that threshold of a beautiful climax as easily as them. I wouldn’t be surprised if some Blondies or even Elites were jealous of the pets they so kept. Able to reproduce or even have sex freely while their lives were directly under Jupiter to be a cold replica of the machine who had bred them.

 

“When you said that Guy taught you half of making love,” Symphony started asking me as we ate, “Who taught you the other half?”

 

“Two people.” I say it plainly but firmly, “One of Mimea, she used to be a pet in Eos, and the other was…Iason Mink the Blondie.”

 

They blinked. “Is that Mimea of the Black Flames, from Vetustate?” Nile looked pretty amazed.

 

“Yeah. I think the same one.” I say it glumly.

 

“Oh, don’t you own Iason Mink now?” Symphony questioned.

 

“Yeah, I do.” I nodded.

 

“If it were too personal can I ask how they taught you that?” Symphony carefully asked.

 

“Fine,” I sighed, “I know it can be personal but I don’t mind sharing. I feel Mimea is well, she decided to go against everything that was taught to her to be with me so did Iason. Only, I think Iason was less brave than her. He didn’t give what we had labels later on and I think all I wanted him to say he loved me but he was too arrogant to say it. Mimea always told me she loved me. Surviving in Eos was hard because as Nile would know most pets don’t like mongrels and they don’t like pets that have less breeding creds than them. Mimea was ostracised because she hung out with me but she did it anyway and she valued me and I her. It was important that Mimea was that brave. If she wasn’t I may have felt a lot more hopeless. It didn’t always bother but at times it profoundly did. The fact that people hated me so much. The furnitures looked at me as though I was vermin. Even Daryl did not really like me after all I was not bred for this; I was supposed to be a mongrel. I was an uninitiated piece of shit living among people who were well trained to be pets and live in grandeur. It was kinda unfair on them and I realised it later. They didn’t want their status to be interpellated by someone who was well you know an outsider. I think it was also very difficult when Iason gave me some preferential treatment. Obviously, it was not fair. Also, the limits of that preferential treatment made me unhappy too because it was teasing and taunting of freedom but never those things. So, when Mimea broke rank and considered me special I truly did see myself as that. After she left, I felt angrier with the world of Eos. I longed to be in Ceres. If just only a moment where I did not have to relive the trauma of losing Mimea and also the punishment that came after. Iason was less of an asshole when I lived in Apatia but that still didn’t always resolve the mixed feelings I felt for him. They weren’t resolved because I knew it could never go on like this. I found Iason to be unrealistic for thinking like the way he did. It made me feel sad for him and me. Like, what was exactly trying to prove to me? Or, even himself? Made me feel more vulnerable and sad than I should have felt. However, I did admire him trying to break free. That was the most noble thing that he ever did.”

 

“Talking to you is definitely an eye-opening riveting experience.” Nile seemed to be holding her voice from being too over excited.

 

“Yeah, that is true.” Symphony looked at her phone, “Oh, they sent me texts…” then looking at me, “I wanna introduce you to my kids…” Wow, wait, she has kids? This is nice, “I had them during the last years and when I was still in Guardian. They weren’t sold yet. Thank God. They are biologically supposed to be ten years old but growth hormones have made them older so they are actually now fifteen. They are twins see. This is Sasha and Pearl Talukdar. They are unidentical. Sasha is the girl, Pearl is the boy.” She showed me their pictures. Both Sasha and Pearl had brown hair and blue highlights. Sasha’s hair was short but Pearl’s hair was longer, almost waist down. They had blue eyes with sliver flecks. They also were fairer than their mother. There was another picture next to them of an infant who looked more like Symphony and even had the eyes and hair. I touched that picture subconsciously. Symphony saw it, “That’s…” she paused, “That’s my first born. His name is Gem. I had him when I was fourteen years old in Guardian. Yet, his father and I didn’t ever get along. My pregnancy was a bit difficult because of my age and I was not really interested in Gem’s father. I didn’t get pregnant again until I was twenty-four or twenty-five with Pearl and Sasha. They allowed me to stay because I was rare case. They studied me too and all of that.”

 

“It must be great to have three kids.” I smiled but I saw a look of panic in the corner of Nile’s eyes which I didn’t understand.

 

“Oh, no,” Symphony said softly, “I don’t have Gem anymore. He had a buyer and he was sold as…well as something in Ranaya Uugo as soon as he started growing up. I only have Sasha and Pearl. I don’t where Gem is now. Or, if he is alive, or if he wants to meet me.”  She looked like she was crying, she pushed her tears away. I did not know what to say. I never saw a mother cry like this in front of me before. I never felt a mother’s love for long in Guardian. I didn’t think much about it. For a moment, I was envious of Gem. At least, he had a caring mother to cry for him.

 

“So, what do your kids do? I know the school system is still messed up in Amoi.” I ask, keeping it on subject and slightly away from it.

 

“Well, now that you asked…” Symphony looked like she had some opinions but Nile looked relieved at me, obviously talking about Gem would not go well, “Well, there are days even months were school’s out, literally. My kids are smart and they don’t mind missing school is it means they can well learn with their tutors or well play sports. They do, sometimes, miss the normal routine of school and the course works they don’t plan themselves and the fact they can’t meet up with many of their friends in that environment. I got them in ‘Avery Academy’ which is one of the top schools still left in our planet and it still doesn’t have the necessary funds or teachers or other kinds of resources to run around. They don’t always have a structure to follow and I am hoping next year we can plan something. There are many children in Amoi now, more so than before, because well Guardian technically no longer exists and all of that but I feel we will lose valuable immigrants when we cannot cater to their children’s needs. This is a serious problem for our government and I do not take it lightly. Right now, we shamefully also have reproduction laws. We cannot afford many people get pregnant because where will we send their kids to school. Some of the female and male population of Amoi are gravely unhappy with us because we have reproduction laws. But, we can’t do anything about it.”

 

“There is this other problem which we do not always like to address. See, some Eosines do not mind to wait a bit and then having their kids you know join the trade when they are of age.” Nile sighed off, “This has become another problem because even the Galactic Commonwealth, acting like saints though they exploited like anything before, think it is unethical and immoral. Yes, it is pretty strange but we cannot tell them off when some of them complain that they had inherited no wealth and cannot wait around their young ones or even the young among them to starve. The Midas people also complain that when can they get back to studying though they have also assigned private tuition and all of that. It is very sad but we cannot do much about it and I am actually pretty worried myself. There are some people who wanna teach her from Earth and Freyja. I am actually interviewing a Ballibib teacher. His name is Amleth Seti Vollivol or as they say Vollivol Setileth because they usually join their middle and first names together and have people find out their full first name. That was a custom of knowing in the Ballibib culture. He is pure Ballibib and speaks pretty well our languages. Midas people don’t want him around when they got to know him a bit like a candidate, Eos are sceptical because the Ballibibs do not really endorse the selling of selves unless it’s mutual, their custom for that is called the lock of names where they try to you know get some temporary benefits. The Ballibibs themselves are sceptical of human culture and Amoi culture in general. But Seti or Amleth wants to come and teach her history and mathematics in Avery Academy. I have decided that perhaps we should hire him. In fact, people from Guardian really want him around. They trust outsiders more than insiders seeing, well, you being Ceresin yourself know, you guys started out as outsiders more than outerworld people.”

 

Nile seemed pretty happy hiring this Ballibib gentleman. I had to agree with her choice. It would be good to have someone of that particular locality and nation around. “Are there any other candidates?’

 

“Many are Earthians but we are a bit, well, we must regulate them. We do not know if they are propagandists or they are people who are genuinely wanting to help others.” Symphony explained, “We have to be careful. Also, we know Midasians try to seduce Outerworld people all the time trying to show that they are better and more educated than the Eosines and the Ceresins and the Ranayuggs. That is exactly the sort of hegemony we want expelled as much as possible.  We cannot create new dichotomies and such and we must be mindful what is happening. There is that headache to deal with too.”

 

“Well, at least you guys are analysing the problems and making sure you can actually make them matter. That is good.” I smiled. It was nice to see this kind of commitment and integrity towards a cause and I was really impressed by what I was seeing and what was being conveyed. If most future leaders were like them we would have been better in many ways: even as a species. I did have my doubts on Beethoven Caravan. It was necessarily because he had a pet, it was because of how insecure he seemed. If he made contact with the Selfs a lot they would actually try to use him to what they wanted and when I thought about that I had to hide a cringe.

 

“I am sure Enif Saxon told you about the pet party that we wanna hold soon, right?” Nile suddenly mentioned.

 

“Oh yeah, he did mention that.” I say it.

 

“Well, Heracles is going to be there so you shouldn’t hit him again on any accord.” Symphony laughed a bit.

 

“Oh, that.” I chuckled a bit sheepishly, then determinedly, “Well, if you ask me he kinda deserved it you know the way he was being such a weirdo and all of that.”

 

“Not saying he didn’t.” Symphony winked and Nile and I had to smile, “Just this pet auction is going to be different a bit.”

 

“Yeah, many women want to participate in this one.” Nile informed.

 

“Really?” That did sound interesting. “Like Amoit or —“

 

“All types. I am curious to see how it plays out.” Nile seemed enthused again.

 

“Yeah. That does seem a bit of something to watch.” I say.

 

“Hey, look, it’s Gilbert Domina and Katze Endymion.” Symphony points out.

 

Nile and I look towards the entrance and see them come in and when they see us Gilbert looks unsure but Katze blushes. Wow, does that mean….hehe…Katze, Gilbert did accept you didn’t he? I wanted to fist bump the air. I was really happy seeing that Katze’s proposal was accepted. I mean, as I said, I didn’t want him to be alone anymore. I was happy seeing him with the guy of his choice. Katze seemed to say something to Gilbert and he shrugged but not arrogantly just like an ‘ok’ and they headed towards us. I was grinning like an idiot and Katze almost glared at me but then the poor guy blushed and rubbed his neck and hair.

 

“Hey Katze,” Nile seemed to become mischievous, like she suspected something already, “Did you and Gilbert come here for some work?”

 

“You could say that…” Katze said with some reservation.

 

“No, we aren’t here for work.” Gilbert used his presence to pretty much pick up the context, “I am here on a date with Katze. I have officially accepted his proposal to be with him as his lover. I can officially say I am Minister Katze Endymion’s boyfriend or lover. So, yeah, we might discuss work but we are not here on business. We are here to get to know each better intimately.” Then looking at Katze’s flabbergasted face, “What? Honey-san, if you wanna date me be public about it from now on nor else people will use it against us and I seriously like you.” He grabbed Katze’s hand, firmly and affectionately, “I don’t wanna lose you and I don’t wanna see people judging us. We are together. It is all that matters.”

 

Nile and Symphony seem to be between smiling and awe. I think I did actually fist bump the air this time. Katze looked at me in shock but Gilbert Domina smiled, “See, Riki the Dark gets it.”

 

“I see he does.” Katze looked like he was about to groan but also laughed a bit, “Well, I didn’t mean to intrude on you guys. I didn’t know you would be here long.”

 

“We are getting along great.” I motioned to Katze.

 

“Well, that’s great to know.” Katze looked extremely relieved and Gilbert just looked at him and seemed to smirk; I could read his body language, though he was a Blondie, and he pressed closely against Katze and his hand holding was still firm. Katze may not have been used to this because he didn’t completely hold back till now. There was a sense of affection on Gilbert’s eyes. I did not think I would see this in a Blondie like Gilbert. Then I recollected how I saw it in Aisha and Iason. They could be adaptable if they wanted.

 

Without much notice, Gilbert kissed Katze. His lips grazed, like two soft curves against a cheek that was both muscle and putty. I could feel and see all our eyes wide and even Katze had to stare widely and then look at Gilbert, “Well, I think we should go and have tea, right lovely.” Katze could only nod. I was sure he wasn’t used to public displays of affection especially for himself. It was strange for him but he softly smiled. Obviously, he didn’t hate it and wanted to warm up to the idea. I was extremely happy for him and hoped that he would have a good time. After all, I think this was his first date with Gilbert Domina.

 

“Do you think we should start moving?” Nile suggested, “I don’t think we should disturb them; this seems to be their first date?”

 

“I agree.” Both me and Symphony said at the same time.

 

“Alright then, let’s move out.” Nile smiled. So, after all that food eating and tea drinking we headed out and I winked at Katze when we were leaving and he just raised a hand to acknowledge me and I was happy that he seemed happy.

 

I said goodbye to Symphony and Nile. Symphony said that she needed to go home as her children were coming back after playing soccer. Gem Talukdar was in my head. I remember the look on Symphony’s face talking about her lost son. The worst part was that he was also a Ranayugg. The fact that he was pedalled out to perverts and disgusting fucks made me completely sick. Then I thought how hard it was for Symphony to know her first son went to Ranaya Uugo and how she had to deal with that. Now, that he was also missing which portended the worst outcomes. There could be a possibility that he was dead. There was a possibility that he was alive but in a state that made him feel miserable. I think Symphony didn’t think too much on it either. It would drive her insane and she had two other children to think about.

 

While walking outside, I thought I saw somewhere near the gate. There was messy blonde hair and reddish like highlights on bangs. The eyes were a dark shade of blue, half-midnight blue. I looked at him. The man was nicely built, had accentuated abdomen and nice chest. He was dressed in brown pants and grey shirt and he seemed to be watching me. I just game him a nod and decided to just start walking and just kept on walking. I didn’t go to the garage. I looked like I was going to a tong to get like some cigis or something. And, yup…what do you know…this dude was following me…so I did something. I stopped and then I think he stopped too and then I just turned around fast and sprinted right at him!

 

I think he was starting to run back but I leaped a few paces forward and pretty much pinned him down. Then as he panted and looked at me scared. It was a good thing I assessed the situation and he seemed like he was unarmed but I was used to doing this — if anyone was a novice I wouldn’t advise them to do what I did because it could be pretty dangerous. So, I closed the distance between us, the young man was sweating, “Boo.”

 

“Fuck you, Riki the Dark.” He said after some moments.

 

“Well, he speaks.” I pinned him down as he did try to struggle, “Who the fuck are you, sir?”

 

“I am.” He looked as he was thinking if he should say something, then he looked ready, “I am Simon Pulsar.”

 

I blinked and laughed, “The Simon Pulsar who made the premiere of ‘The Debut’ pretty much a bad night for us own mates, huh?” I used my elbow to pin him down on his throat, “Have you no honour and shame? Your own comrades were in jail and you are just out there, roaming around, getting a free lunch on their backs.” I spit on his side, on the ground, and he cringes, “What are you some sort of wannabe who is actually a fucking coward? If you are a leader of a movement show some backbone.” Then I press him to the ground a bit more, a bit harder, and he yelps and then I get up, “So, fucker, why are you following me? I can get you arrested you know. I was having a meeting with two ministers and you just happen to be outside? You better have a good excuse better than dog ate your balls and you forgot to wear them around your dick and have no stamina but be a stalker.”

 

“It isn’t like that!” He yelled and then he glared, “You seem to have many assumptions and we barely met…” then he looked mad, “You weren’t a piece of shit to Atticus, why liked how he looked —“

 

“Can your dick asshole nor else I will punch your lights out in the street and you would like that right? Good publicity for your movement? You better be damned I ain’t falling for your trciks and those things won’t work twice. You are stalking me and people will arrest you/” I clench my fist, “Now, start talking. How did you find me?”

 

“I saw some fancy cars out here and thought it might be you or someone. I was looking for you or Kirie or anyone.” Simon looked to the ground.

 

“You could have called and made a damn appointment.” I glared, “What you want?”

 

“I just wanted to know if you are really gonna come to Yuko Solar’s play?” He asks.

 

“Why wouldn’t I not come?” I question back.

 

“Well, you went to ‘The Debut’ and the Venus Movement got arrested so —“

 

“Look here.” I pointed, “They threw a rock —“

 

“At a Blondie!” Simon argued, “Surely, Riki the Dark would understand being imprisoned by them as a pet —“

 

“Don’t go there.” I warned, “You don’t know anything. Besides, attacking anyone who is not Eosine. Do you think that will make you guys look good?”

 

“I respect you, you know.” Simon stated, “Yeah, I may not be enjoying our little interaction right now but I do know that you are one of the only Ceresins I can respect. You understand how it feels to be like that don’t you? Trapped as a pet. It is horrible Riki. Ceresins should choose us as brothers and sisters in arms but they play it too safe! Do you know Midasians don’t even give a shit about anyone? Now, we have to suddenly make a society with them? Is that even possible? Autolycus is a joke. It always will be Riki. If Eosines rise up we can really show the world of Amoi how better we are. We can really have a chance.”

 

I took a breath after a moment passed, “The way you are talking is like some cheap anarchist mixed with some levels of classism. What do you think would happen just by feeling everyone else is beneath you? That sort of thinking is concatenated with the feelings and thoughts of one Jupiter, or Lambda 3000, of Amoi. Don’t you think you are traversing a very bad line here? What do you want, exactly? Everyone else go away and Eosines have their earthly Shangri-La in Autolycus? That is the stupidest concept ever. As I said you sound like you belong with the Elites and Blondies.”

 

Simon looked horribly offended, “So, basically, I am like a Blondie just because I want the best for Eosines? You sound strange and kinda hypocritical. Didn’t you become a pet because you wanted to become more than Ceresin? How am I any different than you then? Oh wait, yeah, I am different. I want it for every Eosine not only for myself. It was wrong what you feel and think.”

 

“Really.” I chuckled, “What make you think I wouldn’t have helped Bison out after I reached for the top? Or, help other Ceresins. Yeah, I wanted to be more than a slum mongrel in the old order. The key word here is ‘old.’ The old one was a hegemonic, indoctrinated system of ostentatious inequality and we Ceres people were not even citizens. Now, in the new order where everyone has been granted citizenship why would I want the same sort of formula or plan for advancement? I am changing my thoughts with the constant realities I am facing. You are just being stuck in the same segregationist mentality and I do not know why. Why can’t you give everyone a chance and not everyone is the same. You know very well that not every Eosine is gonna be trustworthy and great. And, knowing this reality you cannot overlook it.”

 

“There may be Eosines who are now being silly and having their hopes up like you.” Simon gave a smug smile, “But, when the Venus Movement wins, they will see we are in the right.”

 

“If they win.” I say it and see him cringe, “You don’t want people to do other jobs and stuff? You want even reluctant Eosines to be in theatre and sex trade?”

 

“I never said that.” Simon seemed to clarify, “I just feel that the sex trade is a part of us and some of us do great with it and the theatre culture is so gloomy with us. There is no reason to relinquish all of that. Of course, there are other people who wanna do other things but that’s fine. But our theatre if not having sex is the best thing ever and we will show how successful it is. We are gonna be the best.” Simon said this with a lot of conviction. Not like some dreamer. But, like some really obsessed guy. I knew it in my gut and body that he was pretty dangerous. I felt sorry for Atticus for having this kind of comrade. There was this stability in him to do the destructive or at least pine for it. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.

 

“You can think that all you want Simon.” I say it plainly, “But, people, no matter where they are from, need to do things by themselves and make their own choices. You seem like you want to make it for them. I don’t know why you would tread that path and even think that way. You were a pet once. You were made to fuck and pretty much dance around with others, even those you didn’t get along. Surely, you can see that this way is wrong.”

 

“There is nothing wrong in having some small disagreements even if we are together.” Simon adamantly folded his arms and made his point, “Eos people, as you know, know hardships and are adaptable. We are the best sort of people. We aren’t spoiled brats like the Midasians nor are we well undecided like the Ceresins. We are passionate in what we do and appreciate our skills and our bodies. We persevere because of that.”

 

“You don’t seem to be talking about the Ranayuggs.” I raise a brow.

 

“What’s there to talk about?” Simon looks casually at me, “They are makeshift Eosines so it can be they matter or they don’t. Frankly, they lack our passion and imagination being just you know sexual accessories. But, some of them seem okay enough. They don’t have much ambition and they don’t seem bothered much and are okay with how things go one way or another. I hope they, however, see our cause and find it profitable for them too. Though, I doubt that a massive change will happen to them. After all, they are just Ranayuggs. Like look at that Dandelion Quartet. In what right mind did he join Noh Space Theatre? I cannot understand how he would like to be a dog licking the boots of some spoiled Midasians? He should have more pride than that. But, I can’t expect so much from a Ranayugg.”

 

I seriously did not like this guy. How could he be so disrespectful of everyone? I felt that he was being so arrogant. Now, I remember he was a cool type of person though now he didn’t seem that cool. He looked pretty alive when he talked about the Venus movement and the Eosines but not so much when he was talking about other groups and people. He had a disturbing sense of detachment from them. Or, he just looked down on everyone. If I don’t know better I would say Simon Pulsar was a good version of a younger and haughtier Iason Mink. He certainly played the part perfectly. Something told me…I wasn’t completely wrong…like my analogy wasn’t wrong. That though suddenly chilled me. Wait, couldn’t be…what was I thinking?

 

Then I saw him. He was kinda staring at me. He seemed to be studying me. Like my movements, my breaths, my lashes, my eyes…uh…his eyes were trailing down and up my body and he looked at my neck too. I didn’t know what to say. At one point, I thought he was going to lick his lips more and I just didn’t know what to say about that. I didn’t know how to respond to this unwanted attention. It was making me a bit uncomfortable. Simon looked at me deeply; his gaze was a bit charged as he was thinking of something. I didn’t know what to feel but a sense of feeling completely against it. Like, wasn’t he having an argument with me in some ways? Should he be checking me out? Huh, what a funny thing.

 

“I think I don’t wanna talk anymore.” I just shrug and I am gonna leave.

 

But he just gets there and he grabs hold of my hand, “Don’t leave.” He gazes into my eyes and I don’t know what to say, he seemed to almost want to touch my lips and I jerk so he focuses to keep my hand on his grip, “Look, I may sound unpleasant but I am pretty passionate and hardworking. I had to be a bit more social for my work but you know what? It doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I guess I do value more people than I did. But, what’s so bad if we are in charge, huh? We will still keep the Midas people and all the Ranayuggs and I am sure the Ceresins will also well you know be happy helping us out. We just feel that ex-pets should be better in charge because we have the glamour and we can do a lot of work and we understand the importance of keeping clients happy. Is that so wrong or misguided?”

 

Those blue eyes were kinda familiar. Though, I felt the theory on which I based it on would be pretty sad and terrifying. The tone of speaking seemed so pretty…similar…Though, was that even fucking possible? The fact was when I was entertaining the idea I knew how others would think totally incredulous and like some conspiracy theory nut that has no credibility. However, it feels that…this is something I didn’t wanna let go. Though it did sound kinda strange. “Look, buddy,” I could see he didn’t like the fact that I called him buddy, “What do you think I am gonna do? Just support Venus Movement because it is filled with Eosines? I am not that crazy you know. I am gonna support when I feel that it has credible reasons and a voice that is not so discriminatory and you know what your friend Atticus gave that voice.” My way of impressing about Atticus seemed to really make him cringe again, like there was a competition between them, though, if a leader with more than the immediate outlook was to be looked at it would definitely be Atticus because he seemed to understand the main concerns about Eosines in general and why they didn’t like Noh Space, “I don’t think you understand how narrow-minded you are actually sounding and how this will hurt you in the future.” I try to actually break free from his hand, but as he loosened his own hold, I decided to slowly slip out of it; I didn’t know when he wanted it or why he wanted it but he seemed to have yearned for something from me or with me and I am sure I couldn’t give it to him. I thought of Aisha and Iason back home and I frowned at the idea of cheating of them (though when I chose one of them I knew very well I couldn’t be with the other anymore either and I was happy about that thought seeing I don’t like this two guy thing: I want one spouse, pairing partner, mate, you name it), especially with someone I like met fifteen minutes ago.

 

“You say I am narrow minded but are you so progressive thinking?” He said this with some vehemence, “You could have taken some Eosines as pets. People who need you and could want some food and shelter. No. You took some damn Blondies. One of them is the guy who was bad to you. Did you miss his body so much that you had to take him?” There was a lot of spite in his words.

 

“Eosines are gonna get more rights. There is no guarantee that Blondies will even get the slightest modicum of rights. They may be relegated in every place or sphere and though that is unfair I also understand that people do not necessarily trust them and I understand that it may be that way for a long time. I can’t abandon people. Even if they are Blondies. Also, Iason Mink is my problem and I will see it to him personally. He shouldn’t be anyone else’s problem when the person he hurt the most is me. So, I should punish him or reward him. I am sure you see the poetic justice of it all. I am not going to stand here and listen to your accusations when I am not doing anything personally and politically incorrect or illegal or criminal.” I glare at him and let my hand off, “Who the fuck do you think you are? Come over here and telling me that everyone aside Eosines are the shit and then tell me that I should just come up and forget that. You haven’t forgotten I am from Ceres. And, you say my own group of people are indecisive. Well, excuse you, they are gonna be as indecisive as they please. Unlike you fucks they have been struggling to be recognised for such a long time and now they have it and it is scary for them and it does make them sad and unprepared. Why do you think you guys are also going slow? Same reasons as them. I can’t believe you think I am breaking the rules. And, then you look at me as some perv trying to eat me up! What is wrong with you?!”

 

“I am not checking you out!” Simon looks so embarrassed and blushing, he almost like young Kirie, defiant and kinda cocky, but the way he is trying to stare me down and look away shows I was correct.

 

“Really, then how come you can’t look at me directly?” I almost laugh and the sneer on my face makes him grab my collar and I grab him back.

 

“You are such a cocky upstart!” He glares at me and I decided to just grin back to mock him which makes him tighten his grip but look on with hesitation as he himself doesn’t know what to do and it is actually hurting him to think. Then without further warning — I was not expecting this — he pushes forward and kisses me. Like hard on the mouth. I can feel his tongue on my lips, a snake that could not slither out and I don’t grant him the spaces of my mouth that are not to be his. Though, I can see him trying, pushing, it is almost like a form of march that he must win. Was he doing this to spite me? Or, as his desires have been found out he doesn’t know which way or what to do but kiss me. At one point, I think I pushed away and was trying to breathe in and — fucker was fast — he caught me, bit partly my lip and in my sigh to actually push away again he actually did push part of his tongue in my mouth. It stayed there, limp for a while. Our eyes were open. They weren’t even downcast for pleasure and I knew this felt like one of the most impersonal kisses I have had in my life. Though he stared at me, defiant but also pliant, he seemed to want it to romantic. The fuck it was going to be that! His part tongue moved around trying to see sweet spots or points where I may let go off my resistance and also enjoy the kiss with him. I was two inches taller than him so I stared at him from my angle curious to see how his tongue would half-wag like a curled dog’s tail and see that he can find some common ground with me.

 

He was treading into no man’s land. Or, no man’s mouth. The half spurred was like a broken bayonet that knew not to kill food to eat or charge into battle. He himself felt my teeth, front, as he could not proceed to feel my molars or my inner cavity and he twist a bit on the rook to see my grains and to know if he could plant some pleasure there and feel like I was able to come around. My stare down seemed to intimidate him a little, so he stopped, in intervals he moved again and soon — I slowly, but determinedly, snagged his tongue a bit rough making him budge out, not fully wounded but pride and desire obviously hurt. As he grabbed his mouth scared.

 

“I don’t think it is nice kissing someone without permission.” I seriously bared my fangs at him and cockily smirked.

 

He looked a bit intimidated for a moment until he smiled pretty much absentmindedly, rushed towards me and grabbed me and kissed me again, “I know a lot of things…” he said between kissing me and rasping breaths, “Why not see for yourself? I will make you forget all about those sterile, no good Blondies. I am a better mate. I can prove you.”

 

I pushed him off.

 

And. SLAP

 

I had enough of him coming at me and trying to kiss me down like as though this is some sort of weird ass soap opera or something.

 

He clutched his cheek but grinned, “I won’t give up, Riki the Dark. I want you. And, I will have you want me too. I will prove I am better than any Blondie.” He grinned brighter, “Just you wait. I am patient when it comes for choosing people I like.”

 

“Beat it.” I flipped him off, “Unless you want me to hand your ass down on you and make you forget that you are actually a leader and more like a pet. _My_ pet.”

 

“You know I was once a pet so being a pet is no amount of insult for me.” He smiled and rubbed his cheek, I knew I gave him a good hard one (yeah, puns intended), “But, I do not have any interest to be your owner or your pet, Riki the Dark. What I want is to be yours and you mind. As a term of equals. We can do a lot together for Ami and I think it is important that we do each other too in the process.” He winked and I almost balked. Not the subtle fuck was he.

 

“Look, kid…” That got him a bit riled up, I could see it in his body language, “I am not gonna date you even if one moon of Amoi and the other decide to go tap dancing.” Then with all seriousness, “We are done here and we are not gonna do anything and certainly not do each other. Beat it before I do decide to call the cops and get you busted and not the kind you little freak would want.”

 

I could see him look away out of anger and disappointment.

 

I took out my cell phone and called Olivier who probably was hanging about in the parking lot for some minutes and wondering why I had not come over till now. He had been hanging about for some minutes. I saw that he had texted me asking me if I was okay.

 

I flipped off Simon as a goodbye but he grinned and I went away. That was one determined motherfucker. Though I wondered when he started his little crush on me. I did not know if I was okay being an attractive guy again in some form or the other. Not that I wasn’t pretty much Earthian taste. Back on Earth, people liked me too, but when I stopped being a little social it did curb down interest of new people a bit. Not altogether. People still used to randomly show up in my usual haunts and flirt with me a lot and stuff until they realised they were not going to get that desired attention from me. I didn’t have relationships for a long time except the few that I did knew off and I wasn’t intended to start dating and fucking much people as usual. Even if I was in an open enough relationship. I bracketed my openness to only Aisha and Iason. That is also because I was thinking who I could end up with long term amongst them two. I knew a part of me really wanted to give Iason a chance but then there was this vibrant new sort of love that I was making with Aisha and I didn’t want the feelings to go away.

 

I know this was going to difficult. But it had to be done. When I was ready I would tell one of them what I have decided. I was not important enough to also delay that choice. Seven years have already gone by. Sure, Iason waited for me and Aisha didn’t personally didn’t know me then but we all were waiting for each other one way or the other and I didn’t want to underestimate anyone or anything.

 

This was important.

 

“So, that Simon Pulsar was putting on airs, huh?” Olivier laughed in the car. Truth be told I did tell him for a laugh because something about Simon really disturbed me. The way he walked, moved and acted was not totally graceful in the sense which I always identified them with but something about him really got to me. I also didn’t know why all of a sudden, he wanted a relationship from me and I didn’t know if this was really what I expected from him. When I talked to Atticus, he had a flirty feel but what I appreciated was that he wasn’t really arrogant and he seemed pretty interested in other people. With Simon Pulsar, he was least interested in people other than people in the Venus Movements and the Eosines. He had such disdain full views of everyone else that it was really hard to talk to him about politics. But yes, he was one of the leaders so that means they were obviously people who somewhat liked his way of thinking. I can’t necessarily only blame him. So, that is meeting with two people out of the Venus Movement. And, no meeting from Noh Space Theatre. They can’t be seriously thinking that meeting Dandelion Quartet was enough of a meeting, could they? Well, forget about disrespectful to me and my intelligence, this is disrespectful to people in general. I was getting a picture of Felix Self from some of his actions. I think if Simon was haughty and arrogant than Felix would fuck the cake and rotate on it.

 

“I guess you could say that.” We laughed for a bit, “Didn’t know he liked me that way.”

 

“Well, to be honest Riki.” He said this to plainly, “You have a lot of admirers, I have seen Kira and Kakash, Ashe and Ashera also look at you in a pleasant way. Not to say least less sexual. You are like one of the most attractive men and people in Amoi, whether you believe it or not. But,” He sighed acting all bothered to my puzzled face, “I guess that is the problem of the truly beautiful people, not only hot or sexy, they do not know how beautiful or attractive they are; always getting surprised that people want them. Though, I guess there is trouble in that too. Choosing someone who matters as much. Who they can also surprise by showing they are beautiful and attractive in so many ways. That is, I think the challenge.”

 

“You seem to understand a lot about this.” I say this when my puzzlement goes away and my interests are piqued, “Have you known someone who was like that and you can relate?” It was a bit of stab in the dark. Though, I do not know if I was expecting an affirmative answer.

 

“Well,” Olivier drove a bit slowly now, of course the AI could help correct discrepancies in driving if there are some to be calculated, though he wasn’t breaking or overlooking the speed limit and we were going through a pretty much deserted street, “There was someone I knew who half-fit that description you know. I wouldn’t say fully. It wasn’t that, well, he definitely seemed to have issues. There is something even alluring about him because he was meant to be so perfect but he wasn’t perfect and he seemed to hold on to his mistakes in secret but be pretty happy to have them. I stayed with him for a long time and he seemed to trust me a lot. Though, I know by either circumstance or even fear, he couldn’t completely trust me. It hurt my feelings at times. I miss him.”

 

“Oh…” I was really interested, “Something tells me though I could be wrong…he was more of than a friend to you, wasn’t he?”

 

“I don’t know if we could call each other friends Riki.” Oliver seemed to say it but I could see how sad he was saying it, “I was supposed to be servant and subordinate but sometimes he didn’t make me feel that way. I think he treated me more of a comrade that he was supposed to treat the people who were supposed to be his comrades and that sometimes scared me and overwhelmed me. You know we used to have fights, quarrels, that are like the quarrel and fights of friends and then at times I realised they were like lovers too. Though, I don’t think we ever were that physically intimate. I mean, I am a castrated male Riki. I hate my body. I hate that I cannot be anything other than a castrated male. That came between us when he did show interest in lovemaking and consummating our feelings and emotions. He was so patient too. At times, I could understand that he lost it though it was not always fair but he never forced me or anything. I think he got frustrated that I didn’t I think I was more than a man. I think he thought it was worthless how I thought. I just couldn’t rid of that bad taste in my mouth you know the one that made me feel that I was lesser than other men and I didn’t know how to think about it because it was curling up inside there and I just didn’t want it too. But, I guess you could say that I loved him and I still think about him and love him. And, it hurts.”

 

“He was an Elite, wasn’t he?” I say it, knowing how this was going down.

 

“Yup, would he believe he was a Blondie?” Olivier started laughing as though he was making fun of himself, “You know sometimes I totally get why you mad and feel also clueless about Iason Mink. Those Blondies can be selfish and pretty stubborn and stuck up in their own ways. But my one was more than an anomaly than yours. He didn’t see me as lesser. Which, frankly, at first scared the shit out of me and I didn’t know how to respond to that. In case you are wondering, he was Zeke Bell. Don’t go telling people around that. I know Kirie knows this but people already interrogated me before and I seriously do not know where he is.”

 

“Wow,” this was unexpected, “I did not know that Zeke Bell was the Elite you served.” Then looking at him as he drives, “So, you know Atticus Bromide then?”

 

“Oh yeah, when Atticus came…” Oliver stopped for a moment, his breath was a bit low, as though he was sighing but his lips were also quivering, “When Atticus came you know Zeke Bell actually dismissed me and got another furniture. Like he was seriously trying to Blondie now after all this time and all these years. So, he got rid of me and I didn’t know what to feel. So, what you feel and don’t feel or don’t know how to feel. I understand where it comes from Rik-chan. Blondies can be selfish and they can do so without thinking what is happening to the other person. Even though it is trained on them you know something I can tell you they have some free will so it’s bullshit to think they are not culpable all the time because they are. What Zeke did was something he was culpable for not Jupiter. Jupiter didn’t ask him to want a relationship with me and then discard me like Jupiter didn’t tell Iason Mink to abduct a Ceres Mongrel and pomp him around like a pet. That is all on them. Maybe not the system but obviously, those actions. And, Iason wasn’t told by Jupiter to be exceptionally rude to you and treat you like shit do if Iason ever barks that excuse you can fuck him hard and tell him he is your bitch like he plays Jupiter’s bitch. Yeah, Jupiter was culpable but that doesn’t necessarily exonerate them. They should have their 300+ IQ tell them that. Those hypocritical dudes.”

 

“I am sorry Oliver.” I really did feel sad. I had no idea that he had a relationship with Zeke Bell and had no idea that Zeke left him. I could say and it was natural he was still affected by it. Yet, I could see that Oliver had qualities to love. He seemed like a jokester but he was actually pretty caring and kind, remembering how he was one of the first people to congratulate Ithos when she became Lady of Kirie’s house. Also, maybe Zeke needed someone who is a jokester and someone who actually made sense to him and that is exactly what Oliver had given him and I could feel it was a deep relationship.

 

Leave it to a Blondie to fuck that up

 

“Well, we are here.” Oliver smiled at me.

 

I smiled back. I knew I didn’t have the time to talk to him. But, sometimes the timing, the place and the way we are just right. I feel we connected as individuals because I absentmindedly talked about Simon. I felt that it was a great thing because what we feel and think about is not always up for conversation, discussion even if we live in an extroverted society we seem to always have unwritten rules of engagement that stop us from being honest with everyone. Sometimes, it is prudent. Other times it just gets in the way and is pretty much like data overload. People could be truthful once in a while and it would all make us happier or at least more satisfied than we are.

 

* * *

 

“So, let me get this straight.” Iason blinked, “You met this Simon Pulsar and he was kinda following you. But, the fact is he reminded you…” I think I saw an eye twitch, “Of me.”

 

On the corner of our room Aisha was chuckling and trying to cover his mouth and looked completely happy doing it. I looked at Iason again, “Yeah Iason.” I say it with a shrug, “He did remind me of you, you know.”

 

“He is an Eosine pet and I am a Tanaguran Blondie.” I don’t think his eye stopped twitching anytime soon, “What makes you think he is like me?”

 

“Well, first of all, his determination that all people aside Eosines suck and that everyone else is meant to be ruled and their existence would be much better if they are ruled by one specific class of people.” I explain, “I know that was a Blondie way of thinking in specific and even the Elites but then what particularly got of you from him is that he was obsessed with that idea or order. And, he checked me out sexually. Gave me a couple of kisses and said that he was a better mate, boyfriend, spouse or pairing partner than you guys.”

 

“Wait!” Aisha stopped laughing and looked so enraged than her purple lips were encased in a film of red and white, “That fucker kissed you!”

 

“Yeah. I had to push him away a couple of times.” I say and look at Iason that he looked livid as well, “I didn’t know how to react — it happened fast and I taunted him with it. But, I know he is nothing like Atticus Bromide. That guy is so into well-being a classist I don’t know what the other people in Venus Movement think of him but I can understand that well, perhaps, some of them have that extremist vibe because nor else there was no way they could have elected him.”

 

I was caught off guard again and frankly seeing that it had happened more than once during the day I had grabbed Aisha a bit roughly before he would land that special kiss on my face. I turned and my cheek was pressed by his purple lips. I felt it like some odd sort of pollination. Both ardent and useful, passionate yet gentle. “Hey, what gives?” I say it with some true questioning.

 

I moved aside when I saw Iason also trying to get me. “What the —“

 

In my confusion, Aisha slowly touched my face and brought me up and kissed me. Our tongues slowly, nude to each other always, felt like sacred moments in both the lifecycle and the individual state of cells in which we liked to move. I was not so different than them when we kissed. When we kissed our modifications, our lesser and higher faculties and our inability to at times communicate used to falter and ebb away and what remained was a new construction. Both permeating and zygotic, both rhapsody and also practicality, if Logic and Reason ever saw some union with Passion and Love in some Fibonacci sequencing of arrangement than the kiss would be it and then the eventual making love. Obviously, it depended on the people, the customs, the way we were with each other. Kissing Aisha always felt right. There was no conquered or to be conquered when I kissed him. It was like we both were the temporary rulers to the same kingdom permanently ours. It always felt right. It was strange. I never had to struggle to be Aisha’s equal. I knew the contexts mattered but I felt that even though he was a Blondie we had much in common and much different too. But I loved the balance and the chaos we both wrought together.

 

It was an equal music.

 

When Aisha was done Iason kissed me. Just like that. I think this is what I like about Iason’s kisses. They were a continuation of his own feelings and statements. Though he was a very good negotiator and a great conversationalist he got stuck at me. This made me happy. It was great that all his conditioning stopped when I came up. So, when I said continuation it was like he was saying something and he wanted to continue with his feelings. I didn’t always like this when I was initially with him. Because sometimes he would use a kiss a way to punish me and I did not love or like that as well. It was not a punishment I had signed up for. But now I could taste his apologies and sweet expectations in his kisses. That got me excited and aroused and always made me feel better. It was nice to know I meant that much to him and that he wanted me. I was honoured in my own way that he still wanted me even after seven years. Though, yeah, once he boasted with his arrogance that it didn’t matter if I was in 20s, 30s or 40s that I would be his pet. But, it was nice to know he didn’t feel like that fully. That he would still want me but not like that. Sometimes, all you needed to do is change the bearing and the angle and all you get is something better and something you would happy and proud to live with. If this was possible even when Iason evaluated his own life. I would be happy.

 

Iason’s tongue tasted like the familiar but the sweet. Aisha’s tongue felt like a familiar coded gene in which we all lived and thrived and the helical ways my tongue flowed with his was like this concerted music on disconcerted bodies that made me feel both rich and fulfilled. It was like something I felt in my bones, waited for and sung in my head with half the words and tunes. It was both a learning process and instinct. I felt Iason’s hand traveling over my tee and I could understand what his purpose was when he suddenly pinched a nipple lightly and pinched it again. It was like a throbbing; he was picking up pace. I slowly felt myself giving a moan. It was accentuated and became pronounced because Aisha also had picked up my tee and slowly started kissing my muscles and he was doing it wonderfully with his tongue going to lick in another rhythm. It was like a machine of pleasure going clockwise and counter clockwise but there was no true dial to it; yet, it wasn’t automated. The fact that they came from two Blondies was something made surer that it wasn’t automated. I tugged slowly at their gold hair — Iason needed some medicine for his and he think he knew that. His hair was a bit less lustrous now but Aisha’s was still better because he had taken care of it and now it was still long. I touched their gold silk. Both of them had a lighter sheen of gold. I moaned a bit louder intermixed with their own sighs and moans when I could feel Iason biting my nipples and Aisha biting skin here and there.

 

I was not going to protest. I encouraged it by bucking my hips and kissing them on their heads, foreheads, noses and lips. I had already given my consent. I had not thought I would be having sex again so soon; don’t know if I can keep up the tempo but I will definitely try my hardest to keep it up. I slowly rubbed against Iason’s ass and kept on helping both on undress. By this time, it was hard sitting still with Aisha because he was getting up and down trying to unzip my pants and then he did and I helped him by getting out of them and throwing them to the corner. Iason took off my tee and I helped him by raising my arms up and then allowing them to just take them off. It felt really good to be now in the nude and just open to what they had in store for me and I had in store for them. I kissed Iason, my tongue caught his and pretty much tied itself to me and I was letting his off easily. He seemed to love the fact that he was held hostage like this and kept on kissing me and loving to be kissed by me. His tongue also twisted and turned as if trying to escape or to give a chase or start one of his own. It was lovely.

 

The moan I let out was fierce. I had let it out not only for the great, fervent kisses of Iason Mink but also because I felt Aisha Rosen thump my cock and then swallow it. The sucking of it and slow licking of my balls, the kissing and slight teething of my erogenous centres down south, including my inner thighs and my legs made me thrust out another moan from my mouth. MY eyes fluttered as Iason’s tongue trapped mine like some Eros in turmoil and waxed me in beautiful saliva as though we were all a chrysalis waiting to erupt and go under some kinetic hibernation where dormancy was only of other things but lust and love with its flickering of reason would pulsate and palpitate and make me join in some fated union. I was both sword and sheath of passion; both the eye and apple of desire and both the fruit and gravity of love’s labour. I loved being the north and south knowing an east and west that coddled me and respected me and I them. I could feel the extremity of my breaths and my breathing heightened the more Iason also kissed my lips and my nipples and my hair and forehead and body. I kissed and licked his rib bones and realised that I should help him get back some of musculature and weight. It was hard for me to concentrate on kissing him because well Aisha was getting pretty excited swallowing me and letting me go and swallowing me and letting me go. It was like some hummingbird motion on flower and I was getting hypnotised by it. My body writhed with it and in anticipation by it, and then even apostrophes by Aisha’s kissing of my navel and back there and then I could Iason also give commas and periods in kisses and touches, rubbing of hair. I could feel the sexual zenith of it all. My body was aware and one with my consciousness. This was no ‘cogito ergo sum’ this was ‘I feel therefore I am’ and it was also a divine truth which both punctuated making love and went beyond it. It was emotions and logics knowing how to kiss and thumb each other; be the butterfly wings of eyelashes. I am amazed by the prolific gestation of kisses and moans and the ability to tome them in making love. A leather-bound volume of passion: us.

 

 I slowly could feel my pre-cum starting to rise like some geyser seeds and touched Aisha up and could rub myself a bit before going down and licking him, his balls softly in between my mouth and gently on my teeth and then his whole member was measuring my tongue and mouth as he puffed up and down. I think Iason got what I wanted and he wanted it too. Iason then kissed Aisha and Aisha flew open his eyes and stared. Then I saw him smiled as I swallowed and felt his pace and he kissed Iason back. Iason corned tongue and teeth with Aisha; I decided to take turns in sucking both cocks with my mouth and strew up kisses between them their own fluids following a string from each other as some sort of exhalation marked with white ink. I thumbed both their heads and felt their bobbing in unison and they moaned and kissed each other. Aisha had started getting on Iason’s nipples, trailing tongue and teeth on them and hearing Iason grab his hair and moan out loud was seriously music. Aisha had better hands at sensuality — who would have ever guessed or thought of this scene — the Unyielding one can make the Ice moan break apart and become anew and the Ice one and make the former yield and be active and be passionate? Well, I felt some instinct say that I was also the fire that helped them work in such tassels and tangent. That I was the forge and flame of Prometheus who had made metals go to being metal and flesh at the same time. Though I felt I was a mere mortal and they were like gods of the old pantheon: If Iason was Zeus and Aisha Apollo than I was the mortal who controlled them as much as they controlled me. I was part and parcel of creation. We all formed a new mythology for the Greeks and Romans to gawk at: a cosmogony of interrelations and this happened even if we did not form to have sex. After all, why would Zeus and Apollo share? Why would the mortal? I have always felt the gods of old mythology were mortals in disguise anyway.

 

Iason winked and me and suddenly he seemed to be wink at Aisha too, who looked confused for a moment, then looked at me, then at Iason, them smiled at both of us. Damn, that naughty smile for Aisha Rosen I think both Iason and I could eat him up right about now. So, we went to our spacious bed and Iason got down and immediately Aisha got on top of him…

 

“I wanna see two Blondies do it…” I sighed it and said it softly, “May I?” I asked humbly their permission. They were my allies, not my toys. They nodded and Iason lovingly thumbed Aisha’s purple lips and Aisha kissed them and then he slowly felt his way onto Iason who gasped out deep and they rocked on and off, on and off.

 

I looked on touching myself in intervals as I saw both men kiss and look and me and keep on slowly pushing and moving their forces and intermixing in a whirl of yellow, spun gold matter that erupted and bracketed in limbs, moans, tongues and touches. Aisha gave deep kisses and small bites onto Iason’s chest who slowly kissed, whenever he could, Aisha’s hair and his neck and they both were moaning out and I moaned by proxy. I could feel their passions going at it. I could feel their bodies through some strange sense of pheromone signatures and the ambience in general. I felt Iason’s rocking hips mesh against Aisha’s own as he tried moving up and down, sideways, trying to pace in different ways. It was pretty intense and romantic. I could only feel my own cock pull as though it was stuck in their magnetic field and wanted to feel them up on me too. I could moan as I saw Iason kiss Aisha passionately on the lips but then also his eyes and nose, even his eyebrows.

 

I then felt Aisha cave in, the impetus finally coming to a halt as Aisha screamed in utmost pleasure and Iason as well. But Aisha came first and Iason second. Both panting for a few minutes as I looked on transfixed and saw them slowly recovering. Then they looked at each other and seemed to smile and they just laughed for a moment softly and then looked at me. They had also looked at each other. They never thought _they_ would, them two, would actually make love, in front of a Ceres guy no less. They had not gotten along. They had pretty much ignored one another because they had nothing to offer one another and now here they were making love. Something told me they had really liked it with each other. I had only had a momentary jealousy but more happiness for them. I think even though they wanted me it was fair in our open relationship they got to do that too. It was fascinating but also so heartfelt and passionate. I could only smile at them as I approached.

 

I knew I would do it a bit with both. I started up on Iason and he could feel me as Aisha also felt my rocking body on Iason and smiled and kissed me and I was amazed by all of it as I just moaned and kept on going. I kissed Iason a bit, it was a bit difficult because Aisha was still on him, but I managed. I kissed and cuddled Iason’s arms and his chest and felt passion when Aisha also kissed my throat and made me feel complete for that moment. I could feel the tingles of my building up orgasm. And then I came. I could feel later on Iason come too. There was an interval where Aisha and Iason and I, just kissed but soon Iason fell asleep. He was tired and I was accepting and understanding of it. Aisha rolled off Iason and we put him under blankets to make him sleep comfortably. We were not done. I kissed his nipples, sucked them, nibbled on them slowly and he too did mine. I kissed and licked his collarbones as he did the same while also picking up my face and kissing me as well. We were making out for a long time until I felt myself getting slightly aroused and erect again. Aisha slowly, with much comfort and care, felt me inside. I felt him on me and I moaned and I clenched my muscles, tightening and welcoming him as we stared at each other and rocked. We were both really happy as we kissed and rocked, slowly, then suddenly fast, then slow, feeling sometimes overwhelmed by the way each one of us moved or how our bodies were always being pushed towards that edge of no return but not really going all the way. Yet, just feeling the way we could just also stop, kiss or look at each other and breath in ragged and deep inhales and exhales and go at it again. We are like the constant flow of life. Aisha and me.

 

Then I came before him, feeling him pressure and also I feeling him pressure, both of our loads giving sway and the rain fall. I could swear we both were gonna collapse on each and I kinda did a while later. I could feel myself feeling the twitch and the member lose all control of Aisha’s cock just succumbing to me and I to him. We were like this and then Aisha rolled on top and we just kissed each other deeply with chuckles and giggles following our kisses like waves and foams and I could feel the tides of us climb up, go down and feel ourselves know each other by the pulls of each our own orbits and gravities. We were both the swell off nirvana and earths. We knew this and were happy in that knowledge. Soon, though, one last concerto seemed to have sprung and I could feel Aisha’s one rise up a bit. One last gulp of watery pleasure for the night. Aisha felt me and soon I know Aisha’s inner places too; he was riding me and I enjoyed every moment of it. This beautiful surge of our oceanic waves pulling and probing and we could be lost like waves or boats or sunk treasures and still rise up like some old Atlantis. Our veins drinking the elixirs of passion, our lymphs like overdriven nymphs who also knew both bodily and spirit love, we were wrecked on an island but Dickinson said mooring on the other but soon building sails from my moaned breaths and archway of fused boats from my bodies and were sailing. At the edge of the universe we turned and fixated on a black hole and we also skipped in like people skipping rope as if to say to the black hole we are the two nodes of electricity that can scramble your gravity and somehow make a place for ourselves. We inverted that black hole and while it was pushed in and out in mess its pocket of rich waves brought down the seeds of stars and then itself became itself only to exhale and be a fiery-icy ring as if it was now a moving down to different spells and knew where to go. It no longer a mass grave but molecules to build life.

 

We pulsated on each other’s forces; we felt each sweat, moan, treckle of saliva with our kisses and we felt and were enshrined in each other’s organs and skins. We were both the nebula and the horizon. The subtle kiss and the intense longing. We were both cartography and the inter-nodes of new lands and were also both the industrial and the primordial. We were both the definied and the unclassifiable. We could be planets and suns, knowing that once planets could be piece of suns and that even suns one day would arise again as planets. We poured on each other as though how the trail of light bookmarks a meteor. We sank on each other’s mouth as though we sank on food. We were both meat and fruit. Both clay and fire. Both water and air. Steamed in ice and the metallic force of some erogenous ancient matter. If he was modified it was like the DNA looking for a fit and I, an unaltered bind, waiting for the elements to help me propel forward. No matter what our deisgns were I felt God knew better because there were no other fates we could have had but this moment of me, a Ceres human with no alterations bound to a human like machine Elite Blondie and we knotted and twirled like moves that no one knew and no one could have understood. We built and destroyed. We are catabolism and anabolism of the marrow and bones and were swept alike like gardens meant to be both nature and nurture.

 

As we erupted, one, me before him, I knew this was sheer poetry of our skin and bones: a flesh on some never-ending cloud. We were both a love and yet something more. Even when our embraces were relinquished to cool off like the embers needing some air we possessed each other’s ash marks on our bodies.

 

A serene lull from the two moons on ether. Everything felt like a treatise to the genuine.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was like 20,240 words long. Yeah, it was long but hopefully worth it. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I loved writing it and introducing my characters. So, yes, please read and review. Let us see how the next one comes up. Ooooo mystery about Simon Pulsar. Subplots and all hehehehe See you guys hopefully soon!

**Author's Note:**

> No one wants to reverse the roles. I haven't seen any fics were Iason was a slave. Probably because "Ai no Kusabi" has become nothing but a smut despite it's great cultural, societal and gender individual related questions. I am not saying one cannot enjoy the sex but people forget that Iason at the first part of the series was an abusive person and a rapist. Yes, he is a Blondie but that is not enough to make Iason a non-rapist because he is one. Let's face it. And everyone wants to make Riki hurt and I doubt I like it much. Riki is a stronger individual than Iason. And yeah Iason changes at the end but that does not exonerate him for his actions and the mangaka kinda knew how difficult this whole thing was so she just killed the characters. Not her fault. But just a longer, detailed study into it. Iason becomes "human" at the end because he accepts his crimes and even asks Riki for forgiveness in many ways though of course the anime which my knowledge is based on shows but subtlely or rather scarcely probably due to production value problems (fiction cannot compete with truth at all :P) thus the mangaka kinda was saying that rape and abuse rapes your humanity from you so Iason cannot be looked as nothing but a monster as a beginning like a gumiho or something similar. And Iason is despite his superior intelligence less creative, patient, strong, mentally piqued, intuitive than Riki. I have seen it many times. Because Iason lives in a closed world but Riki has faced the elements.
> 
> The first chapter took a long time to write Thank God it done :D I think I might write a companion piece to this fanfic of Riki's adventures in Ireland and around Earth in the seven years gone. Anyone interested in reading tell me okay.


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